20 February 2014, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The commitment of the Federal Government to oil and gas exploration in the Chad Basin is unwavering, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has said.
It said its corporate services unit, the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, has continued with seismic acquisition activities in the Chad Basin frontier area despite the security challenges currently being experienced in the area.
A statement by Dr Kennie Obateru, on behalf of the Group General Manager of NAPIMS, said the acquisition project being handled by Integrated Data Services Limited, a subsidiary of NNPC, in partnership with BGP, a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation, is a part of a 12-phased 3D seismic data acquisition programme covering 3,550 square kilometres, of which Phase 5, covering 252 square kilometres, has just been concluded. Currently, Phase 6 of seismic acquisition programme covering 266sq. km has commenced.
From Phase 1 to date, a total of 1,437 sq.km of seismic data has been acquired. Of this, 1,096 sq.km of seismic data has been duly processed and is ready for interpretation. Preliminary seismic data interpretation has produced some leads that will be further investigated to establish drillable prospects, the statement said.
It added that the seismic acquisition activities were carried out with due regard to environmental protection and in accordance with international standards and best practices.
“In this regard, NNPC contracted the University of Maiduguri to undertake an Environmental Baseline Studies (EBS) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which will be a guide in the current and future exploration activities in the region.
“As a responsible corporate citizen, NNPC has embarked on sustainable developmental projects for her host communities in the areas of infrastructure, health and education. NNPC has also undertaken projects such as provision of potable water through sinking of boreholes as well as refurbishing of classroom blocks in primary schools in the area.
“NNPC will continue to carry out community-oriented projects as the programme progresses with a view to positively touching the lives of the host communities. Meanwhile, over two thousand youths and local contractors have been actively engaged to provide various services including provision of boat and canoes in swampy terrains,’ the statement further said.
It would be recalled that the current exploration activities in the Chad Basin started over three years ago and has covered five seismic acquisition phases. Our current strategy is to continue Phase 6-12 to enable us complete acquisition & interprete prior to further drilling activities in the area.
The statement added that effort was being intensified “to complete interpretation of the acquired aeromagnetic surveys across the 6 inland basins as part of the aggressive exploration agenda for increasing our country’s reserve base.”