The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will deepen its search for oil in the north, the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has said.

Speaking on Thursday in an interview with journalists at the 40th Kaduna International Trade Fair, Baru said a deeper search for oil will enable the NNPC to make extensive appraisal of the gas reserves discovered in the region in 1999.

He added that the NNPC was working on the Kolmani River ii with hope and expectations, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari had personally urged the corporation to go back to explore the Kolmani River ii.

He said drilling had been going on smoothly, stressing that as at Wednesday morning, the corporation had dug 10,075 ft with a target to reach 14,270 ft.

According to Baru, “the main purpose of this well is to start some massive appraisal of the discovery that was made way back in 1999 of some gas reserves in Kolmani River 1 and so far the drilling has been going on smoothly to enable exploration.

“We will do the needful, if we need to probe any particular section, we will take our time to do it. Our target date is to see that by the end of May, we complete exploration on that particular well and move to Kolmani River iii which site is almost ready for the rigs to move there and from there we move to other locations”.

Speaking earlier at the NNPC Day at the fair, Baru said the annual fair was an opportunity for stakeholders and long term exhibitors like the corporation to take stock of their participation through the years with a view to consolidating on areas of strength, while working on avenues for improvements.

•Sourced from THISDAY report

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