It does appear that the accidental Enugu natural gas find has a history writes Ikenna Emewu. Sometime last week, the people of Enugu State were rattled by a wildfire at Amaoji Nike in Enugu.
This location is not far from the capital city of Enugu where a wildfire burned briskly and defied the concerted efforts of the relevant agencies to put it off.
After some days of fruitless battle against the fire in the forest, the spokesman of the Civil Defence, Enugu Command, CSP Emmanuel Iwuchukwu spoke through a short video on what happened.
He explained that the efforts to put off the fire also attracted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) that confirmed it has no oil pipeline route in the area. This was on the suspicion that it could be fire from ruptured gas or oil pipeline.
That revelation by the NNPC started raising questions on what should have caused the fire that could not be put off from deep inside the earth.
In the meantime, the security agencies cleared all vegetation around the huge flame so that it doesn’t escalate into burning homes and property
Through questions from the Caritas University Enugu that alerted the authorities about the fire, the government authorities found out that it emanated from deep inside the belly of the earth.
Caritas University had engaged a water borehole drilling company to get water for the use of the institution.
It was while the company hit a depth of some 100 feet that they encountered some liquid which proved not to be the water they needed.
On examination, they noticed that what they accidentally uncovered was natural gas and an admixture of crude oil.
While discussion was still on about what to do, fire started emanating from the deep hole. It possibly would have been ignited by solar heat in the daytime.
Like a joke, and through this accident turning serendipity, natural gas that is the lifeblood of today’s economy seems to have been discovered in Enugu especially as the flame is exactly the same with those from gas flaring in the Niger Delta.
History
In March 2010, I toured the five states of the southeast to document a report on oil finds in the region the government has abandoned to go searching for non-existent oil in the Lake Chad region.
My report exposed oil finds in Edda, in present Ebonyi State with a test well at the premises of Orienta Primary School, Ezi Edda. That was the first oil find in Nigeria by Shell BP way back in 1928, 94 years ago.
I also visited Anam in Anambra State to see another Shell oil well at Umueze Anam just by a road that was later named after Shell as a result of the oil find in 1972. The capped test well has a date of April 1972 on it and the locals call the road – Ezi ndi Shell (Shell Road)
The locals also told me about some other oil wells by Shell also at a place they call Akpu Nnunnu, another at Oroma, Umuikwu, Mmiata, and all parts of Anam in Anambra East LGA.
My next visit was to the National Archives Enugu where I found documents to support oil finds in Awgu and Ehalumona in Nsukka, all in Enugu State today
The oil find document about Awgu is one of the oldest after Edda.
The archival documents have details that the Ehalumona find is about 90 percent natural gas. Experts say that beneath any natural gas find at the deeper level is the presence of crude oil.
So, with the way geologic formations exist, it’s little surprise to informed people that natural gas and possibly crude oil was accidentally found in Nike last week, which is in the same vicinity as Awgu.
The good accident has opened our eyes to a wealth hidden under our feet we never knew about.
The challenge is now to the federal government that enacted laws to appropriate all mineral deposits in Nigeria as their personal belonging.
We challenge the NNPC to do the needful and go for a proper and detailed seismic survey of the area, take samples from the hole and deploy resources to tap natural gas in Enugu State, and also commence similar surveys in Edda and the environs for exploration and development.
It should also revisit the Anam oil deposits which had attracted so much attention over 20 years ago with Orient Oil Company promising to build a petrochemical plant to refine oil around there.
