Nigeria’s inland basins: Investment opportunities and environment

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with a teeming population of over 170 million people having and occupies a surface area of about 924,000 square kilometers with a variety of abundant natural resources. The most exploited natural resource in Nigeria is Petroleum, the largest industry and main generator of GDP. However, recent findings suggest that the petroleum potentials of Nigeria have not been fully realized, particularly with regards to its inland basins. Nigeria’s inland basins have been highly underexplored principally due to the abundance of oil in the Niger Delta. These inland basins constitute one set of a series of Cretaceous and later rift basins in central and west Africa whose origin is related to the opening of the South Atlantic. Commercial hydrocarbon accumulations have been discovered in Chad, Niger and Sudan in this rift trend. Oil has been discovered in commercial quantities in the Lower Benue Trough (Anambra) inland basin of Nigeria, by orient oil petroleum resources plc in 2012. Petroleum Geochemistry result from Nigeria’s Inland Basins (excluding Sokoto basin) provided where analyzed, re-evaluated and summarized by this paper so as to further establish the prospects of petroleum and/or gas in the region. Nigeria’s oil industry structure and operational mode was examined in order to educate potential investors. Results where all positive with regards to petroleum exploration in the lower Benue Trough showing early oil window (oil prone), Middle Benue Trough showing late oil window (gas prone), Upper Benue Trough showing middle to late oil window (more oil than gas prone), Chad Basin showing gas window (gas prone) and Mid Niger basin showing prematurity. It was further realized by this paper that Nigerian government had since dedicated a ministry coupled with different subsidiaries to take care of petroleum upstream and downstream sector. The most inviting contract arrangement by the Nigerian government is the Production Sharing Contract (PSC), in which NNPC on behalf of the Nigerian government engages an international oil company or indigenous private investor as Contractor to conduct petroleum operations on behalf of itself and NNPC the Contractor is responsible for financing all the costs of the various stages of petroleum operations, i.e. Exploration, development and production. If the exploration is successful, the Contractor will be entitled to recover its costs together with reasonable profit on commencement of commercial production. China National Petroleum corporation exploration program in Niger republic, Chad republic and Sudan republic was a classical textbook example of a successful drilling campaign, from concept to exploration and development, in an untested, remote, high-risk, and high-cost area. With relentless and rejuvenated geological and geophysical studies, particularly with respect to the evaluation of potential petroleum systems, commercial success may also be achieved in the Nigeria’s inland basins.