Prof. Nuhu George Obaje | |
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Head, NNPC professorial chair at IBBU Lapai, in Niger State. | |
Assumed office October 2019 | |
Preceded by | Poineer |
Personal details | |
Born | Ajaka village,Igalamela-Odolu,Kogi State Nigeria | December 15,1961
Education | University of Tuebingen Ahmadu Bello University |
Occupation | Geologist,Academic |
Professor Nuhu George Obaje (born 15 December 1961) is a professor and Director in the Centre for Applied Sciences and Technology Research (CASTER) at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai,Niger State.
Born and raised in Ajaka village in Igalamela local government area of Kogi state. In 1974,he attended Barewa College Zaria for his senior school leaving certificate and graduated in 1979. After-which he proceeded to study Geology at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria graduating in 1984. By 1987,he received his M.Sc. degree and furthered for his PhD in 1994 at University of Tuebingen,Germany. [1]
Professor Obaje was in 2019,appointed as pioneer head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) professorial chair at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai (IBBUL),in Niger state. [1] Prior,he had advocated the prospecting of oil in the seven hydrocarbon basins including Sokoto and Bida. Consequently,he was made the NNPC Chair in Basinal Studies. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Awards: [8]
Some publications by Obaje include: [9] [10]
Petroleum geology is the study of the origins,occurrence,movement,accumulation,and exploration of hydrocarbon fuels. It refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons.
Sedimentology encompasses the study of modern sediments such as sand,silt,and clay,and the processes that result in their formation,transport,deposition and diagenesis. Sedimentologists apply their understanding of modern processes to interpret geologic history through observations of sedimentary rocks and sedimentary structures.
The Niger Delta Basin,also referred to as the Niger Delta province,is an extensional rift basin located in the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea on the passive continental margin near the western coast of Nigeria with suspected or proven access to Cameroon,Equatorial Guinea and São Toméand Príncipe. This basin is very complex,and it carries high economic value as it contains a very productive petroleum system. The Niger delta basin is one of the largest subaerial basins in Africa. It has a subaerial area of about 75,000 km2,a total area of 300,000 km2,and a sediment fill of 500,000 km3. The sediment fill has a depth between 9–12 km. It is composed of several different geologic formations that indicate how this basin could have formed,as well as the regional and large scale tectonics of the area. The Niger Delta Basin is an extensional basin surrounded by many other basins in the area that all formed from similar processes. The Niger Delta Basin lies in the south westernmost part of a larger tectonic structure,the Benue Trough. The other side of the basin is bounded by the Cameroon Volcanic Line and the transform passive continental margin.
Organic geochemistry is the study of the impacts and processes that organisms have had on the Earth. It is mainly concerned with the composition and mode of origin of organic matter in rocks and in bodies of water. The study of organic geochemistry is traced to the work of Alfred E. Treibs,"the father of organic geochemistry." Treibs first isolated metalloporphyrins from petroleum. This discovery established the biological origin of petroleum,which was previously poorly understood. Metalloporphyrins in general are highly stable organic compounds,and the detailed structures of the extracted derivatives made clear that they originated from chlorophyll.
The Gongola River is in northeastern Nigeria,the principal tributary of the Benue River. The upper course of the river as well as most of its tributaries are seasonal streams,but fill rapidly in August and September. The Gongola rises on the eastern slopes of the Jos Plateau and falls to the Gongola Basin,running northeasterly until Nafada. At one time,the Gongola continued from here in the northeast direction to Lake Chad. Today it turns south and then southeast until it joins the Hawal River,its main tributary. The Gongola then runs south to the Benue river,joining it opposite the town of Numan.
Organic-rich sedimentary rocks are a specific type of sedimentary rock that contains significant amounts (>3%) of organic carbon. The most common types include coal,lignite,oil shale,or black shale. The organic material may be disseminated throughout the rock giving it a uniform dark color,and/or it may be present as discrete occurrences of tar,bitumen,asphalt,petroleum,coal or carbonaceous material. Organic-rich sedimentary rocks may act as source rocks which generate hydrocarbons that accumulate in other sedimentary "reservoir" rocks. Potential source rocks are any type of sedimentary rock that the ability to dispel available carbon from within it. Good reservoir rocks are any sedimentary rock that has high pore-space availability. This allows the hydrocarbons to accumulate within the rock and be stored for long periods of time. Highly permeable reservoir rocks are also of interest to industry professionals,as they allow for the easy extraction of the hydrocarbons within. The hydrocarbon reservoir system is not complete however without a "cap rock". Cap rocks are rock units which have very low porosity and permeability,which trap the hydrocarbons within the units below as they try to migrate upwards.
In petroleum geology,the maturity of a rock is a measure of its state in terms of hydrocarbon generation. Maturity is established using a combination of geochemical and basin modelling techniques.
The Cameroon line is a 1,600 km (1,000 mi) long chain of volcanoes that includes islands in the Gulf of Guinea and mountains on the African mainland,from Mount Cameroon on the coast towards Lake Chad on the northeast. They form a natural border between eastern Nigeria and the West Region of Cameroon. The islands,which span the equator,have tropical climates and are home to many unique plant and bird species. The mainland mountain regions are much cooler than the surrounding lowlands,and also contain unique and ecologically important environments.
In petroleum geology,source rock is rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which could generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been deposited in a variety of environments including deep water marine,lacustrine and deltaic. Oil shale can be regarded as an organic-rich but immature source rock from which little or no oil has been generated and expelled. Subsurface source rock mapping methodologies make it possible to identify likely zones of petroleum occurrence in sedimentary basins as well as shale gas plays.
The Jeanne d'Arc Basin is an offshore sedimentary basin located about 340 kilometres to the basin centre,east-southeast of St. John's,Newfoundland and Labrador. This basin formed in response to the large scale plate tectonic forces that ripped apart the super-continent Pangea and also led to sea-floor spreading in the North Atlantic Ocean. This basin is one of a series of rift basins that are located on the broad,shallow promontory of continental crust known as the Grand Banks of Newfoundland off Canada's east coast. The basin was named after a purported 20 metres shoal labelled as "Ste. Jeanne d'Arc" on out-dated bathymetric charts and which was once thought to represent a local exposure of basement rocks similar to the Virgin Rocks.
The Benue Trough is a major geological structure underlying a large part of Nigeria and extending about 1,000 km northeast from the Bight of Benin to Lake Chad. It is part of the broader West and Central African Rift System.
The Biu Plateau is a highland area in Northeastern Nigeria containing many recently extinct volcanoes. It covers about 5,200 km2 (2,000 sq mi) and has an average elevation of 700 m (2,300 ft). The plateau lies between the Upper Benue Basin to the south and the Chad Basin to the north. High points are Wade Hill at 775 m (2,543 ft) above sea level and Wiga Hill,at well over 800 m (2,600 ft). The plateau is the source of many tributaries of the Gongola River,which have cut deep gorges. To the north the plateau slopes gently to the Bauchi plains and the Chad Basin.
The Chad Basin is the largest endorheic basin in Africa,centered approximately on Lake Chad. It has no outlet to the sea and contains large areas of semi-arid desert and savanna. The drainage basin is approximately coterminous with the sedimentary basin of the same name,but extends further to the northeast and east.
Pyrobitumen is a type of solid,amorphous organic matter. Pyrobitumen is mostly insoluble in carbon disulfide and other organic solvents as a result of molecular cross-linking,which renders previously soluble organic matter insoluble. Not all solid bitumens are pyrobitumens,in that some solid bitumens are soluble in common organic solvents,including CS
2,dichloromethane,and benzene-methanol mixtures.
The Angola Basin is located along the West African South Atlantic Margin which extends from Cameroon to Angola. It is characterized as a passive margin that began spreading in the south and then continued upwards throughout the basin. This basin formed during the initial breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea during the early Cretaceous,creating the Atlantic Ocean and causing the formation of the Angola,Cape,and Argentine basins. It is often separated into two units:the Lower Congo Basin,which lies in the northern region and the Kwanza Basin which is in the southern part of the Angola margin. The Angola Basin is famous for its "Aptian Salt Basins," a thick layer of evaporites that has influenced topography of the basin since its deposition and acts as an important petroleum reservoir.
Anambra Basin is one of the energy-rich inland sedimentary basins in Nigeria. It is a nearly triangular shaped embayment covering about 3000 km2 with a total sedimentary thickness of approximately 9 km. The Basin lying between 6°–7.8°N latitude and 6°40'–7°30'E longitude,is an area of agricultural and fisheries production. Fish species of genus Clarias are common in the basin especially in the dry season.
The Halibut Field is an oil field,within the Gippsland Basin offshore of the Australian state of Victoria. The oil field is located approximately 64 km offshore of southeastern Australia. The total area of this field is 26.9 km2 and is composed of 10 mappable units.
The Delta Field is located offshore from Nigeria on Oil Mining Leases (OML) 49 and 95. This is located within the Niger Delta Basin and sits in 12 feet of water. In 1965,the Delta 1 well was completed and the Delta Field opened in 1968 for production.
The Bolivar Coastal Fields (BCF),also known as the Bolivar Coastal Complex,is located on the eastern margin of Lake Maracaibo,Venezuela. Bolivar Coastal Field is the largest oil field in South America with its 6,000-7,000 wells and forest of related derricks,stretches thirty-five miles along the north-east coast of Lake Maracaibo. They form the largest oil field outside of the Middle East and contain mostly heavy oil with a gravity less than 22 degrees API. Also known as the Eastern Coast Fields,Bolivar Coastal Oil Field consists of Tía Juana,Lagunillas,Bachaquero,Ceuta,Motatán,Barua and Ambrosio. The Bolivar Coast field lies in the Maracaibo dry forests ecoregion,which has been severely damaged by farming and ranching as well as oil exploitation. The oil field still plays an important role in production from the nation with approximately 2.6 million barrels of oil a day. It is important to note that the oil and gas industry refers to the Bolivar Coastal Complex as a single oilfield,in spite of the fact that the oilfield consists of many sub-fields as stated above.
The geology of Nigeria formed beginning in the Archean and Proterozoic eons of the Precambrian. The country forms the Nigerian Province and more than half of its surface is igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock from the Precambrian. Between 2.9 billion and 500 million years ago,Nigeria was affected by three major orogeny mountain-building events and related igneous intrusions. Following the Pan-African orogeny,in the Cambrian at the time that multi-cellular life proliferated,Nigeria began to experience regional sedimentation and witnessed new igneous intrusions. By the Cretaceous period of the late Mesozoic,massive sedimentation was underway in different basins,due to a large marine transgression. By the Eocene,in the Cenozoic,the region returned to terrestrial conditions.