Barely two weeks after the group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, disclosed that President Buhari had ordered the corporation to intensify its search for oil in the North East region, oil explorers and their machines have landed the region and are currently searching for oil.
Also, the former ministers of state for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, in July confirmed that oil drilling in the Chad Basin will start soon.
Chad Basin is located in the northeast where activities of Boko Haram have been countered significantly.
According to Kachiwku. the decision is taken so as to diversify Nigeria’s business portfolio.
The exploitation of oil outside the traditional crude oil stronghold is to plug the hole created by destruction of oil and gas infrastructure by the militant groups.
Oil drilling in the Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states have largely been disrupted by insecurity in the areas bringing down the daily production to over one million barrels from 2.2 million barrels.