Alake Inaugurates Two High-Powered Committees for Bitumen Development
By Patience Chat Moses
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake has inaugurated two high-powered committees for the development of Bitumen.
The first is a Ministerial Committee chaired by MCO DG, Engr. Nkom and a Technical Committee to monitor and evaluate Bitumen activities chaired by the Director, Mines Inspectorate of the Ministry, Engr. Imam Ganiyu.
Speaking during a meeting with the concessionaires, Alake urged them to live up to expectations by complying with the terms of engagement and relevant sections of the Mining Act whilst taking cognizance of the host communities and seeking their cooperation.
“With an estimated reserve of 42 billion barrels of Bitumen and the second largest deposit in the world, Nigeria has no business importing Bitumen; we should be a major net exporter to the rest of the world and we have no choice but to make this a reality,” he said.
The inauguration of these committees marks a pivotal moment in the nation’s journey towards harnessing its vast Bitumen resources.
The committee’s Terms of Reference (ToR) include making recommendations that will sanitize the Bitumen production environment; ensure that everything pertaining to operations in the sector is above board; advise the government on how to avoid the hiccups that plagued the oil industry, amongst others.
Bitumen is a low-grade of crude oil which is composed of complex, heavy hydrocarbons. In an oil reservoir, bitumen is a thick, viscous fluid and must be extracted from the ground. When extracting it, a lot of heat and effort must be used to upgrade it to a better product.
Although bitumen is hard to extract from the ground, it can bubble naturally to the surface of the earth in petroleum seeps.
These seeps are places where fossil fuels and petroleum products leak out of the earth instead of being trapped deep below the ground. In these seeps, bitumen, asphalt, and tar bubble up into pools. Additionally, bitumen is the main fossil fuel component of oil sands. When bitumen combines with asphaltines a solid is formed that is useful for paving roads.
The Minister promised the support of the Federal Government for the Bitumen investors, stating that their success holds immense potential for economic growth and prosperity, to boost diversification of the economy.
While giving his comments, the Director-General (DG) of the Mining Cadastral Office (MCO), Engr. Obadiah Nkom revealed that there have been two unsuccessful attempts at concessioning Nigeria’s Bitumen blocks in 2002 and 2008.
He noted that following the latest successful bidding process, the MCO granted a total of thirty-four (34) bitumen licenses, comprising (18) exploration licenses and sixteen (16) mining licenses. The approval was granted after the minister’s approval and a final endorsement by the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Alake also charged 18 winners of the first round of Bitumen blocks bidding process to roll up their sleeves and work hard to develop Nigeria’s Bitumen deposits.
“We want to know for instance as you move forward, how much of taxes you are paying, the royalties you are remitting, the local value addition that you are putting in place, the local employment generation or the multiplier effect, and then the impact on your host communities. I will advise that you endeavour to engage your host communities and get their buy-in through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and other efforts you can make to ensure seamless operations which will culminate in maximum beneficiation for you as investors, the communities, and government”, the Minister added.
Alake, whilst hinting at another round of bidding, urged the first-round winners to post superlative performance, which will serve as encouragement to prospective investors.
