President Muhammadu Buhari has said the drilling of oil at the Kolmani field straddled between Gombe and Bauchi has attracted $3bn investments.
He stated this on Tuesday shortly before he flagged off the oil facility.
The president also said more oil discoveries were ongoing in the Anambra basin, lower Benue trough and other areas of the country.
“This discovery had emanated from our charge to the NNPC to re-strategize and expand its oil and gas exploration footprints to the frontier basins of Anambra, Dahomey, Sokoto, Benue trough, Chad and Bida Basins. Similar activities across the other basins are currently actively on-going.”
“We are pleased with the current discovery of over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion Cubic Feet of Gas within the Kolmani area and the huge potentials for more deposits as we intensify exploration efforts.
“It is therefore to the credit of this administration that at a time when there is near zero appetite for investment in fossil energy, coupled with the location challenges, we are able attract investment of over USD 3 billion to this project,” he stated.
On utilising the Komani field, Buhari said: “As a fully integrated in-situ development project comprising upstream production, oil refining, power generation and fertilizer, the project promises many benefits for the nation.
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This includes but not limited to Energy security, Financial Security, Food security as well as overall socio-economic development for the country.”
He also said the governors of Bauchi and Gombe States have given assurances of their unwavering commitment and willingness to ensure support and cooperation in these localities as this activity affects the local populations.
As President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday flagged off the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in the North-East, the first of its kind in the zone.
Buhari said the oil exploration at the Kolmani River located between Gombe and Bauchi states has already attracted over $3m foreign direct investment and will boost Nigeria’s fortunes and earnings.
The event was attended by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Slyva; and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari;
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Others include Governors Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Simon Lalong (Plateau). The Group Managing Director of the New Nigeria Development Company, Shehu Mai-Borno, was also in attendance.
The NNPC had in 2019 announced the discovery of crude oil in the Kolmani River region at the border community between Bauchi and Gombe states.
Subsequently, Section 9 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) signed by the President established the Frontier Exploration Fund (FEF) with the allocation of 30 percent of the profit from NNPC’s upstream oil and gas contracts for the purpose of oil exploration in Kolmani as well as Anambra, Dahomey, Bida, Chad & Benue Trough.
