Stratigraphic Exploration of the Bida Basin in North Central Nigeria

Abstract

The Bida basin is a NW-SE trending intra-cratonic structure extending from slightly south of Kontagora in Niger State in the north to the area slightly beyond Lokoja (Kogi State) in the south. All geological maps available on the Bida basin had lumped the sediments in the basin as one undifferentiated Nupe Sandstone, making it impossible to infer the prospectivity of the basin for hydrocarbon exploration. The delineation of inferred boundaries between the formations in the basin is a significant initial criterion in evaluating the hydrocarbon prospectivity. The formations deposited in the Bida basin comprise the Bida Sandstone at the base, followed successively upward by the Sakpe, Enagi and Batati formations in the northern-central Bida basin while the Lokoja, Patti and Agbaja formations constitute lateral equivalents in the southern Bida basin. An institutional research project of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai (IBBUL), supported by the Niger State Government, has carried out a preliminary geological mapping and completed a prospectivity map for the Bida basin. Based on the geological mapping and preliminary proprietary geochemical and aeromagnetic geophysical data, the Bida basin has been partitioned into less prospective, prospective and more prospective areas. The prepared geological map is the first complete geological map to be produced on the Bida basin. The map provides the basis for detailed further prospectivity evaluation by the University (IBBUL), NNPC, DPR and local and international investors in the search for oil and gas in the Bida basin