NNPC resumes oil search in Chad Basin

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it was set to resume oil search in the Chad Basin following the remarkable improvement in the security situation in the North-Eastern Nigeria.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, on Monday in Abuja.

The statement said the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Joseph Dawha, made the announcement at the 21st Annual General Meeting of Integrated Data Services Nigeria Limited (IDSL).

According to the statement, IDSL is a subsidiary of the NNPC that is carrying out the seismic data acquisition in the Chad Basin.

It quoted Dawha a saying, ‘‘preliminary indications from the previous exercise so far are encouraging and we are going to move back there’’.

The statement said the GMD described the security situation in the northeast that led to the corporation to suspend oil exploration activities in the basin as “unfortunate”.

It said the NNPC boss commended the security forces on their recent success in the fight against the insurgents.

The statement said the performance of IDSL was encouraging in spite of the challenge of funding as a result of the fall in crude oil prices.

“The company’s performance is encouraging as it recorded a 32 per cent revenue growth,’’ it said.

The statement said that Mr Victor Briggs, Managing Director of IDSL, explained that the company was expanding its operations to neighbouring West African countries and other emerging oil producing countries in Africa.

“IDSL was incorporated in 1988. Its services include provision of seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation as well as petroleum and reservoir engineering data evaluation, computer and other ancillary services,’’ the statement said.