Nigeria’s energy security has been scaled up with the Kolmani discovery – former GED, NNPC

Waziri Ibrahim, the former Group Executive Director at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said Nigeria’s energy security has scaled up with the Kolmani discovery.

Mr Ibrahim started this during an interview on the Arise TV News Night program on Wednesday, November 23.

According to him, the project further diversifies the country’s crude oil portfolio and this enhances Nigeria’s chances of contributing to the production of fertilizer, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other products.

On Tuesday, November 22, President Buhari inaugurated the Kolmani Integrated Development Project at the Kolmani oil field site, Alkaleri in Bauchi State. The project is executed through the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 810 and 809 to drill oil in Northern Nigeria.

An important oil discovery: During the interview on Arise TV, Ibrahim said the Benue trough, Chad basin, and even Kolmani hold a lot of promise, and the NNPC has been at Kolmani before; this is not the first time. Some gas was discovered there some years back and with advanced technologies, the goal has been realized today.

Ibrahim made some reference to the Oloibiri discovery in 1958. According to him, a lot of work went into the asset before the discovery was made. This is because crude oil exploration is not a one-day affair and usually takes time to manifest.

He said a billion barrels of crude oil has been proven in the asset and is not a small amount by any measure. He expressed satisfaction with the transparency of the NNPC in disclosing the quantum of proven reserves in the asset.

He explained that as technology advances, more basins will be explored for possible oil discoveries. 

An integrated project: Temilola George, a petroleum geologist at the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), who was also at the program, said the Kolmani asset is an integrated project as it is going to have a 120,000 barrels per day refinery, a fertilizer plant, a natural gas plant and this takes away the burden of having to lay pipelines in that area.

Addressing the issue of gas flaring which is already taking place on the Kolmani asset, George said Nigeria’s Northern region, where the Kolmani asset is located, has abundant green vegetation which can act as carbon sinks to absorb the CO2 emissions from flaring. She added that APPO is working on some strategies to execute decarbonization on hydrocarbon assets.

For the record: Waziri said Nigerians need to understand that crude oil exploration is a long-time affair and the important lesson is not to abandon other value additions to the economy, like agriculture and manufacturing. The local people need to be properly engaged to understand the realities of oil exploration.