Petroleum minister gives update on oil discovered in northeast, says exploration will begin soon
- Apart from the Niger Delta, crude oil has been discovered in another part of Nigeria; the northeast
- The minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva, said drilling activities have started and production will begin soon
- Despite the economic diversification, revenue from oil remains the driving force of the country's economy
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Timipre Sylva, Nigeria's minister of state for petroleum resources, says the federal government is planning to begin oil exploration in the northeastern part of the country.
Channels TV reported that the minister stated this during an interview which aired on Monday, February 8.
Sylva noted that he had earlier announced that crude oil had been discovered in the northeast, adding that drilling activities have already started in the Lake Chad Basin.
Source: Twitter
His words:
“I have said it a few times that we have found oil in the northeast and we have started drilling activities in the Lake Chad Basin."
Legit.ng gathers that the minister also said that oil production will start "in a very short time".
Nigeria's revenues, a report by Stears Business states, come from two sources; oil and non-oil.
The oil sector has, however, been the largest contributor. The report cited CBN's data as showing that 2016 was the only year since 1981 where non-oil revenues were larger than oil revenues.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng recalls that Sylva had earlier said that about one billion barrels of crude oil were discovered in the northeastern part of Nigeria.
He made the disclosure at a news conference to end the 2020 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), in Abuja.
He said:
“The figure we are getting, the jury is not totally out yet but from the evaluation results we are getting the reserve that has been discovered in the northeast is about a billion barrels."
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In another related report, Nigerian business guru and philanthropist Femi Otedola in 2020 gave a situation report on Aliko Dangote’s multi-billion-dollar refinery and petrochemical unit after visiting the site.
The billionaire in a tweet shared on his personal Twitter page revealed that construction works on the refinery were 75% complete while the other facility was 60% ready at the time.
Otedola also noted that the massive project is the 8th wonder of the world.
Source: Legit.ng
