The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said on Friday that it will commence drilling of the first oil well in Nasarawa State in March 2023.
The Group General Manager of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said the move to drill the Nasarawa oil well is in furtherance of oil exploration activities in the nation’s inland basin.
Kyari spoke while playing the host to a delegation of Nasarawa State indigenes, led by the Governor Abdullahi Sule at the NNPC Towers, Central Area, Abuja, on Friday.
Kyari said in a statement by the Spokesman of the NNPC, Mr Garba Deen Mohammad, that the discovery of oil on Nasarawa was a confirmation of the presence of huge deposit of hydrocarbon resources in the state.
Kyari called for immediate take off of the project saying global energy transition had culminated in a reduction in investment in fossil fuels.
“This work must be done very fast because the whole world is walking away from fossil fuel due to the energy transition. The earlier you go to market, the better for you.
“Otherwise, 10 years from now, no one will agree to put money in the petroleum business except it comes from your cash flow,” Mr Kyari said.
He also calls for the proper measures in place to garner community support for successful operations in the area in order to avoid the Niger Delta experience.
Nasarawa is the second state in the North where such oil exploration activities have yielded results in the past two months.
President Muhammadu Buhari had inaugurated commercial production of crude oil and gas from the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in November 2022.
The Kolmani Oil and Gas project with Oil Prospecting Licence 809 and 810, is located in the fields of Gombe and Bauchi States.
President Muhammadu Buhari declared that his administration attracted over $3bn investment in the Oil and Gas Sector at a time of near-zero appetite for investment in fossil energy.
