Buhari orders NNPC to commence oil exploration in Benue trough

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
NNPC, to commence the search for crude oil
and other hydrocarbon exploratory activities in
the Benue Trough.
According to a statement by the NNPC, 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, stressing that energy sufficiency and
proficiency were part of the cardinal
objectives of the NNPC.
The NNPC added that it has initiated a
renewable energy programme in August 2005
which is in conformity with the Kyoto Protocol
agreement to which Nigeria is a signatory.
The primary aim of the programme, according
to the NNPC, is to link the agricultural sector
with the oil and gas industry, adding that it is
also targeted at gradually reducing the
nation’s dependence on imported gasoline,
reducing environmental pollution as a result of
consumption of wholesale fossil fuel as well
as creating a commercially viable industry that
can boast of sustainable domestic jobs.
“A similar programme in Brazil has a thriving
biofuels industry providing quantum economic
benefits including creation of hundreds of
thousands of employment opportunities for
nationals of that country,” the NNPC noted.
Also speaking, leader of the Benue State
delegation, Mr. Terwase Orbunde, commended
the NNPC for resolving the recent fuel supply
challenges and pledged the readiness of the
state government to support the quick take-off
of the Ethanol project, adding that the project
would generate jobs for Nigerians.
Orbunde assured the NNPC of full support and
cooperation from the State Government and
the host communities, stressing that the State
Government fully identifies with the energy
policy of the Federal Government.
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.