President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to begin to search for crude oil and gas from the Benue Trough, NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, disclosed tuesday.
Baru said in Abuja that the president’s directive was part of efforts by his government to guarantee energy security for the country, through oil and gas mining from other parts of the country outside the Niger Delta.
The directive however came few weeks after Buhari asked NNPC to resume oil and gas exploration in the Chad Basin.
Baru said then that the Chad Basin was prolific and would not be left untapped.
He disclosed the president’s directive on the Benue Trough to a delegation of Benue State government that paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja. The outcome of the meeting was stated in a statement from the Group General Manager Public Affairs of the corporation, Mallam Garuba Deen Muhammad.
However, reports indicate that the Benue Trough is a major geological formation underlying a large part of Nigeria, and extending about 1,000 kilometer north-east from the Bight of Benin to Lake Chad.
The statement also said that both NNPC and Benue have reinvigorated their collaboration on an ethanol production project.
