Start searching for oil in Benue State – Buhari tells NNPC

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to search for oil in Benue State.
The president had earlier ordered the corporation to explore oil in the north eastern Nigeria.

Buhari in his latest directive asked the NNPC to commence exploration activities in the Benue Trough. The Benue Trough is a major geological formation underlying a large part of Nigeria, extending about 1,000km North-East from the Bight of Benin to Lake Chad.
The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, quoted Buhari as saying this while receiving a delegation from the Benue State Government at the corporation’s headquarters in Abuja.

The NNPC GMD, in a statement from the corporation on Tuesday, said the new directive was in line with the current efforts to guarantee energy security of the country.

Baru said, “Very close home, we have exploration activities on the Frontier Basin, that is in the Chad; and there are some areas close to the Kolmani River where Shell has made indicative discovery of hydrocarbons and Mr. President has directed me to go into that area to further explore the magnitude and prospects of those finds.

“We are taking steps to get into those regions. We will reinvigorate the frontier exploration and see how they collaborate with the Northern Nigeria Development Company that is holding Block 809 where some of the finds have been found. We will also do the same at the Department of Petroleum Resources for the other blocks that have not been assigned, and work towards proving the prospects of that region.”