By Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. Nigeria joined the oil producing nations in 1958 when its first oil field came on stream with production of 5,100 barrels per day.
The history of oil and gas discovery in Nigeria can not be complete with out the mention of Oloibiri in Niger Delta region as the project was executed by Shell – BP Company.
Oloibiri oil field is about 13 .75 square Kilometers in a Swamp. The field is named after the area as OML 29 . With this development Nigeria’s economy heavily relies on the sell of crude oil.
Another milestone in the Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is the discovery of oil in Northern Nigeria which began in the 1990s, when Shell and Chevron were awarded Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPLs) 809 and 810 as part of their frontier obligation under the Production Sharing Contractual (PSC) Agreement on Oil Mining License (OMLs) 118 and 132 for consolidated cost Recovery.
The New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) bid for and won the two PSC blocks- OPL 809 and 810 with NNPC as the concessionaire during the August 2005 license bid round under President Olusegun Obasanjo. However, the NNDC made several efforts to further explore the acreages for commercial discoveries, with no significant results.
In 2017, the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of NNPC, agreed to join NNDC as a participant of the PSC contractor group and the Operator responsible for funding and technical operations. Subsequently, NPDC engaged the services of Frontier Exploration Services (FES) Division of NNPC to acquire 3D seismic data over the Kolmani River Prospects area.
Frontier Exploration Services engaged in aggressive exploration to achieve commercial discovery in the basin, utilizing cutting-edge hydrocarbon de-risking technologies such as Magneto-telluric technology, air-borne based stress field detection technology, and micro-magnetic analysis (MMA), among others.
This laudable initiative resulted in the maturation of several drillable prospects in the area, including the spudding of the Kolmani River-II, III, and IV to determine the size of hydrocarbon finds and explore deeper targets.
A step forward as president Buhari flag off the wells spud in 2019
On Saturday, February 2and 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari, arrived at the site of the Kolmani River II well on the Upper Benue Trough of the Gongola Basin, where he flagged off the wells spud . One of the reservoirs in the Kolmani River II Well was perforated on.
The first phase of this campaign in Kolmani area led to the successful initial discovery of one billion barrels of oil and over 500 billion standard cubic feet of gas with prospects for higher volumes.
In 2021, the Contractor party, represented by NPDC, conducted a three-tier Open Competitive bidding Process for the engagement of a credible Strategic Partner (Financial and Technical Service Provider) for the Integrated Development of OPLs 809/810.
The process, which was transparently carried out in full compliance with existing processes and regulations, resulted in the engagement of Africa Oilfield Movers Limited Consortium as the Strategic partner for the integrated development of OPL 809 and 810.
President Buhari Commissions the historic oil drilling in Northern Nigeria
Tuesday, 22nd November 2022 marked another milestone in the oil and gas sector development in Nigeria as President Muhammadu Buhari Flagged off the Kolmani Integrated Development Project of Oil Prospecting Licences (OPLs) 809 and 810 at the Kolmani field site, which straddles Bauchi and Gombe States, in a partnership with Africa Oilfield Movers Ltd consortium, New Nigeria Development Company (NDDC) and NNPC E and P Ltd (formerly NPDC) monetization of the
massive hydrocarbon deposits in Kolmani for the benefit of all Nigerians.The projected is expected to bring additional gain of nearly $73 billion or 32.3 trillion Naira to Nigeria at an average global crude oil price .
Dr. Babangida Mohammed SYD, Is a Petroleum Geologist. He described the development as a game changer in his write up titled
“THE PRESIDENTIAL FLAGS OFF OF KOLMANI AND CONTROVERSY OF THE FIRST OIL WELL IN NORTHERN NIGERIA” The geologist said it has been on record, between 1970’s, 1980’s to date, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other multinationals like Shell, Chevron and Elf drilled a total of 28 oil exploratory wells in Chad (Bornu) and Upper Benue Trough (The Gongola Basin).
“However, the oil and gas prospecting was suspended in the past due to several political gimmicks! With the inception of the Buhari administration, the NNPC revisited the prospecting blocks in Chad (Bornu) Basin and Gongola Basin. Modern day technology, especially 3D Seismic Acquisition was employed” Dr. Babangida said
He added that among the blocks, the KOLMANI Area was found to be an excellent target. In addition to the first oil exploratory well in KOLMANI (well, Kolmani River – 1) that was drilled by Shell in 2000, from 2015 to date, the NNPC through Frontier Exploration Services has drilled three (3) additional exploratory wells (wells, Kolmani River – II, Kolmani River – III and Kolmani River – IV). Atleast a billion barrel of oil and large volumes of gas were discovered from the exploratory wells.
In addition, the landmass of KOLMANI AREA of Gongola Basin is within Bauchi (Alkaleri LGA) and Gombe (Akko LGA). More so, the structure that trapped the oil and reservoirs beneath the earth estimated around 3500 meters deep extends to both Gombe and Bauchi States but, with slight move toward Gombe State.
The expert stated that to make things clear, there is a need to understand the difference between exploratory well and a development well. An EXPLORATORY WELL is an effort to determine if oil or gas reserve are present that is the probability of success (POS) whilst, DEVELOPMENT WELL is drilled after an area has been proven to hold proven oil or gas reserve and is typically the final phase of the drilling process.
The oil wells that were drilled in the basin are EXPLORATORY WELLS (test wells – widlcats). Now that oil and gas has been discovered in KOLMANI OILFIELD (OPL’s 809 and 810), the blocks had since been handed over to developers that include ; NNDC, SEEPCO, and Africa OIL Movers for oil and gas production.
Dr. Babangida Muhammad expressed that It is obvious the, event marked an official flag off of KOLMANI INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (KIPRO) that comprises of activities of UPSTREAM, MIDSTREAM and DOWNSTREAM industry values chain.
He therefore described , the flag-off of first oil well in KOLMANI, as the first of its kind in northern Nigeria.
The geologist said the project will entails the following: Drilling of Development Wells for oil and gas production,
Oil Refinery around KOLMANI with up to 120,000 barrels per day capacity, and Gas processing plant of up to 500 million standard cubic feet per day, Other benefits are Power Plant of up to 300 megawatt , and a Fertilizer Plant of 2,500 tons per day.
while congratulating ,the people of Bauchi and Gombe States, he emphasized the imperative of Unity among the surrounding Communities and hope that the next President of Nigeria will continue with the project up to completion.
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