Niger Has Begun Oil and Gas Exploration in the East of the Country
Prime Minister of the country Ali Mahaman Lamin Zein noted that geological exploration work had been started by SONIDEP.
The Niger National Petroleum Company (SONIDEP) has begun its first exploration work in the desert in the southeast of the country. This was announced by the Prime Minister of Niger, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zein.
“Today, June 22, our hydrocarbon company SONIDEP officially begins preparations for oil production as a national operator,” he said during a ceremony in Haidar, in the Diffa region.
Since its establishment in 1977, SONIDEP’s activities have been primarily limited to the marketing of petroleum products.
“Today it is starting to explore and exploit crude oil and gas,” the minister noted.
According to customs chief Ali Seibu Hassan, Niger decided to produce its own oil to ensure economic sovereignty and maximize profits.
Earlier in March, Niger’s Council of Ministers adopted a decree on production sharing between the state and SONIDEP. It concerns an oil block in Bilma (northeast, Agadez region) and three others in Agadem (east, Diffa region), where there are already oil wells operated since 2011 by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Since 2011, Niger has processed about 20,000 barrels a day of mostly diesel and gasoline at Zinder, in the east of the country. At the same time, the country’s officially declared reserves amount to about 2 billion barrels.
