Niger State will soon become an oil-producing state, going by recent reports that commercial quantities of oil and gas have been found in the Bida Basin which is in the state.
This discovery was announced by the standing committee set up by the Niger State government to fast-track exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon (oil and gas) deposit in the Bida Basin, after analysis of the study so far indicating the prospects of large commercial deposits of hydrocarbon in the basin where the source rocks have been discovered.
The committee chaired by General Mohammad Inuwa Wushishi and Etsu Nupe Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar as member told journalists over the weekend in Minna, after the meeting of the committee, that they intend to network with other states with inland hydrocarbon basins in the north to forge a common front for quick actions.
They added that the networking with the efforts being made in other inland basins in the north was part of deliberate steps in actualising full exploration of hydrocarbon in the basin.
The commissioner of mineral development in the state, Engr Jibreel Abubakar, and the secretary of the committee, Alhaji Yabagi Sani, jointly told journalists that the committee had decided to liaise with similar efforts in Sokoto, Borno, Bauchi and Benue basins to form inland hydrocarbon basins exploration association in the north.
Alhaji Sani stated that preliminary findings have shown that there is 30 per cent oil and 70 per cent gas deposits in the basin from the source rock.
Sani stated that the source rock have been analysed after two shallow wells have been drilled in Agaie and Kudu in Niger State and expelled, but noted that the committee would have to go further to undertake aero-magnetic geological mapping to be able to track the deposits and geophysical data.
He disclosed that from the geochemistry analysed, the Toxic Content (TOC) using sulphur analyzer showed that the deposit of hydrocarbon on the basin is above 0.5 per cent required in value, invariably making the value of the deposit high in quality.
The secretary of the committee stated that, considering the fact that the federal government is the only level of government that has control over the exploration, the committee would engage the federal government and also organise an international workshop to ensure that investors were encouraged to invest in the exploration process.
He therefore posited that forging a common front with other basins in the north that are all on the same platform would encourage the federal government and other agencies to speed up efforts in the exploration process.
The commissioner of mineral development, who is also a member of the committee, stated that the government was ready to make the dream of the exploration a reality, hence a synergy must be established with the federal government and other necessary agencies.
He stated that, as part of the state government’s commitments, the committee on hydrocarbon deposit development in Bida Basin has to be transformed into a standing committee and the secretariat upgraded to a directorate with the secretary of the committee as the director-general.