Buhari flags off first crude oil drilling project in northern Nigeria

Abubakar Yunus Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has flagged off the Kolmani Integrated Development Project (KIPRO) situated in the boundary of Bauchi and Gombe states.

The KIPRO is an oil prospecting lease (OPL) 809 and 810 at the Kolmani field site located in the Gongola Basin of the Upper Benue Trough.

The ceremony which was held on Tuesday was attended by several dignitaries, including Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The first phase of the project is expected to entail an in-situ oil refinery with a capacity of up to 120, 000 barrels per day, a gas processing plant of up to 500 million standard cubic feet per day, a power plant of up to 300MW capacity, and a fertiliser plant of 2,500 tons per day.

“This is indeed significant considering that efforts to find commercial oil and gas outside the Niger Delta Basin was attempted for many years without the desired outcomes,” Buhari said.

“However, the successful discovery of the Kolmani oil and gas field by NNPC and her partners has finally broken the jinx by confirmation of a huge commercial deposit of hydrocarbons in Kolmani River Field.”