The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva said that one billion barrels of crude oil have been discovered in the North-East.
Sylva made the disclosure at the closing ceremony of the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja.
He said however, that it was only at the conclusion of the search in the North East that government can tell the actual quantity of oil deposit in the region.
The Minister stated: “The figure is not totally out yet. But from the evaluation results we are getting, the reserve that has been discovered in the North-East is about a billion barrels.
“Those are the kind of figures we are seeing and we are beginning to understand the geological structure of the region.”
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He further stated that the Federal Government will soon commence the rehabilitation of the refineries, noting it was committed to ensuring that the firms returned to oil refining.
He said: “We are going to start the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, which is the biggest refinery in Nigeria.
“If we are able to finish the Port Harcourt refinery we would have achieved a lot as a government.
“Meanwhile, we are also continuing with studies around Warri Refinery. We are also continuing discussions around Kaduna Refinery.
“For certain, this first quarter, the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery would begin.
“I cannot tell you for certain when the rehabilitation of the Warri Refinery or the rehabilitation of Kaduna Refinery will start.”
