NNPC, Halliburton intensify oil search in inland basin

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Halliburton Corporation have reached an agreement that will speed up oil discovery in the inland sedimentary basins.

The cooperation will aid the United States based firm to achieve the exact location of viable crude oil deposits in the area.

Group General Manager, Research and Development Division of the NNPC, Dr. Bola Afolabi, said in Port Harcourt that the collaboration with Halliburton will help fast-track the inland basin exploration efforts through the use of the innovative Neftex solution designed to provide exactitude in drilling for oil.

He said the Halliburton Neftex solution, would provide a geophysical mapping structure of the country, and complement the ongoing in-house efforts by the NNPC research centre to develop what is known as ‘Turonian Cenomanian Cretaceous source rock’ for all the basins in Nigeria. This, essentially, seeks to identify all the prolific basins in Nigeria by locating the cretaceous kitchen, that is, areas where large crude deposits could be found.

He said the collaborative research with Halliburton, which had crossed the 65 per cent threshold, would take 18 months to complete.

“We are so excited about this project and with the assured support of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, our projection is that by the turn of next year, we should be able to help the frontier basin team achieve a pin-point location of possible commercial oil finds for eventual drilling activities,” he said.

The GGM also informed that research work had reached advance stage on the Federal Government commissioned project assigned by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to classify Nigeria’s crude oil and natural gas.

He also stated that the NNPC research centre was already working on a project to enhance production from existing assets by introducing a cost effective and reliable alternative to drilling new wells. Already successful pilot scheme has been executed in collaboration with its strategic partners – Cypher Crescent Limited.

Established in 1977 to provide solution to operational and technical challenges of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, the NNPC R&D Division currently has on its employ, three professors, 12 Ph.D holders and a handful of masters degree graduates in various fields of the sciences ranging from geology to chemistry and physics.
Under the ongoing NNPC restructuring, the projection is to transform the 40-year old research outfit into an autonomous and well-equipped one-stop shop technology centre in the frontline of petroleum technology development efforts in the west coast of Africa and beyond.