Bauchi Assembly Decries Suspension of Kolmani Oil Exploration

Members of the Bauchi State House of Assembly have raised concerns over the sudden suspension of crude oil exploration at the Kolmani oil field, a boundary community between Bauchi and Gombe states.

LEADERSHIP Weekend reports that at the end of the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in partnership with New Nigeria Development Company started drilling crude oil at two oil blocks in Kolmani oil filed (OPL809 and OPL810) accordingly.

Similarly, the projection of crude oil deposits in Kolamani, which traversed Bauchi and Gombe states, was pegged at about one billion barrels of crude oil deposit and about 500bcf. Exploration on the field was expected to last up to 2060. Daily, Kolmani oil blocks were projected to generate about 50,000 barrels of crude oil.

Speaking while presenting a motion during the plenary of the House, the member representing Ningi Central who is also the speaker of the House, Abubakar  Suleiman, urged the Bauchi State government to liaise with all relevant stakeholders at the federal level to resume crude oil exploration in Kolmani River.

He observed with concern that the drilling on the Kolmani site was suspended since the exit of Buhari, adding that nothing tangible had been done so far.

The speaker said last year, the NNPCL) moved most of the drilling equipment to Nasarawa State and Lake Chad, thereby halting exploration at Kolmani.

Suleiman in his prayers enjoined both Bauchi and Gombe states Houses of Assembly to constitute a joint committee to visit the minister of petroleum resources, NNPCL and North East Development Commission to find out why activities stopped on the site and request for immediate resumption of activities.