ABUJA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday inaugurated Kolmani Integrated Development Project to drill oil and gas in the northeastern part of the country.

Speaking at the project's flag-off ceremony in the northeastern state of Bauchi, Buhari said that the Nigerian Kolmani Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 809 and 810, located along the border of the Bauchi and Gombe states, has become the first oil drilling fields in northeastern Nigeria after crude was discovered in commercial quantity in that part of the country two years ago.

Over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion cubic feet (14.2 billion cubic meters) of gas were discovered in the fields, he said.

Having attracted an investment of over 3 billion U.S. dollars, the project would be developed by Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and two local partners, said Buhari.

The oil and gas project is a fully integrated in situ development project comprising upstream production, oil refining, power generation, and fertilizer, among others.

Buhari described the new oil fields as "another vital pillar in the country's economic architecture," hailing the huge benefits the project is expected to bring to the country, including energy security, financial security, as well as overall socio-economic development.

"This is indeed significant, considering that efforts to find commercial oil and gas outside the established Niger Delta Basin were attempted for many years without the desired outcomes," he added. Enditem

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