Niger has prospects of joining oil producing states, says DPR

From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has stated that Niger State has prospects of joining oil producing states of the federation if the hydro-carbon deposit in Bida Basin is found to be in large quantity.
Therefore, the DPR has set up mechanisms to determine and assess the amount of commercial quantity of hydro- carbon deposit in Bida Basin.
The Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources DPR headquarters, Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Shakur made this known during a courtesy visit to the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello to intimate the governor on the plans to carry out the assessment and sensitization said that the result of the assessment would determine if Niger state would join the league of oil producing states.
“There have been no serious oil assessing activity in the Bida Basin adding that the recent discovery of Hydro- Carbon deposits in the Kolmani River II well on the Upper Benue Trough, Golgola Basin have made the DPR intensify its attention on Basins where hydrocarbon was said to have been found,” he stated.
“Niger State has the prospects of joining oil producing states in Nigeria. DPR has invested huge sum of money to establish this assessment study. We have done the first and second phase, this is currently the third phase where we will involve a contractor who will fly through 12 local government areas.
“This data will be analyzed to establish if the Hydro-Carbon is at commercial quantity and to determine of more activities would be done at the Basin that would qualify Niger state as one of the oil producing states.” he concluded.
in his remarks, the Niger State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed ketso who represented his boss said the although the visit was long overdue, the state is willing to collaborate with DPR in carrying out the survey to gather data.
He said that the state government had already set up a committee to conduct some research in the Bida Basin urging DPR to look into the report and consider some of its recommendations.