NNPC’s Prickly ‘Political’ Crude Oil Drilling
Ten days back, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited lavishly celebrated the commencement of exploratory drilling of Ebenyi-A well in Obi, Nasarawa State, with the assurance that the effort would contribute to its aspiration to grow Nigeria’s crude oil reserves from 37 billion barrels to 50 billion barrels.
Adenikinju adds: “This is where the issue of political interference comes in. This is not an issue of politics but business. Directing the NNPC to resume oil search in that region is not good for the corporation. The corporation should run as an independent business entity devoid of political interference. They should be able to determine whether to resume oil search or not, and not the government telling them what to do.
The NNPCL has even become rigorous in the search for oil in areas without proven reserves by expanding the scope of its frontier explorations. This is clearly because the Petroleum Industry Act sets aside 30 percent of NNPCL’s profit for frontier exploration. This is big money. So, it is now talking about oil explorations in Dahomey Basin, Anambra Platform, the Calabar Embankment, Bida Basin as well as the Ultra-Deepwater Niger Delta. Likewise, it is planning to return to the Sokoto basin.
I agree that there is the need for oil fields to be discovered outside the Niger Delta region, so that the region will stop holding the rest of the country to ransom. However, running to non-petroliferous areas and wasting huge money is not the way to go. Current statistics from the World Food Programme on global food security revealed that 64.3 million Nigerians do not have enough food to consume. This is about 32 per cent of this country’s population. These Nigerians struggle for a meal a day.
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