The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it was set to resume oil search in the Chad Basin following the remarkable improvement in the security situation in the North-Eastern Nigeria.

The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Joseph Dawha, made the announcement at the 21st Annual General Meeting of Integrated Data Services Nigeria Limited (IDSL), according to a statement by Mr Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC.

IDSL is a subsidiary of the NNPC that is carrying out the seismic data acquisition in the Chad Basin.

According to Dawha, ‘‘preliminary indications from the previous exercise so far are encouraging and we are going to move back there’’.

The GMD described the security situation in the northeast that led to the corporation to suspend oil exploration activities in the basin as “unfortunate”.

Dawha praised the performance of IDSL as encouraging in spite of the challenge of funding as a result of the fall in crude oil prices.

“The company’s performance is encouraging as it recorded a 32 per cent revenue growth,’’ it said.

Mr Victor Briggs, Managing Director of IDSL, explained that the company was expanding its operations to neighbouring West African countries and other emerging oil producing countries in Africa.

IDSL was incorporated in 1988. Its services include provision of seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation as well as petroleum and reservoir engineering data evaluation, computer and other ancillary services.