‘7 wells confirms presence of oil in Niger’
Niger State Commissioner for Mineral Resources, Hajiya Ramatu Yar’Adua , has explained that seven shallow oil wells drilled in parts of the state have confirmed the presence of high quantity and quality of hydro carbon in its quest for oil exploration in the Bida Basin.
The Commissioner stated this in Minna, during a press briefing shortly after the state executive council meeting.
She said that the executive council has approved the payment of N145million out of N380million bill presented by a consultant oil firm that carried out the technical job that established workable data bank on the presence of oil in the basin.
According to her, two investors based in United Kingdom and Canada have expressed interest in doing the seismic data analysis to come out with blocs before handing over to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
YarAdua explained that the shallow wells were established in the villages of Gulu, Bakani, Makera, Kudu, Enagi, Kutigi and Kontagora, adding that “the government is happy about this good news”.
She said that the consultant firm actually improved on the earlier research work done by a team of researchers from the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai.
The commissioner expressed the hope that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will refund the money expended by the state government when it takes over the exploration of oil in the basin.
