The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday said it would resume oil search in the Chad Basin as soon as it received security clearance.

NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, disclosed this when the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, paid him a business visit in Abuja.

“We will go back there as soon as we receive security clearance. There seem to be some prospects there because the Niger Republic drilled over 600 wells and now they are producing while we have only drilled 23,” Baru said.

Oil search in the Chad Basin was suspended after a team of NNPC Frontier Exploration Services and their consultants from the University of Maiduguri were attacked and some of them abducted on July 25, 2017.

Baru commended the people of Bauchi and Gombe states, especially communities in the exploration area for their support and hospitality while assuring them of NNPC’s support in the provision of infrastructure and amenities.

On the proposed Institute of Petroleum Studies to be established in Bauchi State University, Baru pledged the support of NNPC and assured the governor of synergy between the institution and the Petroleum Training Institute, Warri, for exchange programmes and manpower development.

The Bauchi State Governor said his visit was to seek collaboration with the corporation on how to move the state forward.

Mohammed said, “We are happy that we have some hydrocarbon not only in Bauchi but also in Gombe, both in the Gongola Basin, and we are totally committed to the exploration activities of the NNPC in the area.”