OIL: ‘Start The Search For Crude Oil In Benue State’ – Buhari Orders NNPC

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to commence the search for crude oil and other hydrocarbon exploratory activities in the Benue Trough.

In a statement issued by the NNPC, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikaniti Baru, disclosed this while receiving a delegation from the Benue State Government, who paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

This is coming few days after the same directive was given to the NNPC to intensify crude oil exploration in the Chad basin.

The Benue Trough is a major geological formation underlying a large part of Nigeria, extending about 1,000 kilometer north-east from the Bight of Benin to Lake Chad. It is part of the broader Central African Rift System.

Baru stated that the directive to commence exploratory activities in the Benue Trough was part of efforts to guarantee energy security of the country.

In addition, the NNPC also stated that it has reinvigorated its collaboration with the Benue State Government on the Ethanol project which is geared towards production of biofuels for energy sufficiency.

Baru noted that ethanol when blended with Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, ensures excellent performance of vehicles.

The Benue trough, according to Wikipedia, has its southern limit at the northern boundary of the Niger Delta, where it dips down and is overlaid with Tertiary and more recent sediments.

It extends in a northeasterly direction to the Chad Basin, and is about 150 kilometer wide. The trough is arbitrarily divided into lower, middle and upper regions, and the upper region is further divided into the Gongola and Yola arms.

The Anambra Basin in the west of the lower region is more recent than the rest of the trough, being formed during a later period of compression, but is considered part of the formation.