Nigeria’s crude oil production is approaching 1.7 million barrels per day, according to the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari.
The NNPC Ltd. chief, at a stakeholders engagement between the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists and the NNPC Ltd. held in Lagos on Saturday, hinted that Nigeria’s critical gas infrastructure projects are ongoing to ensure the transport of 8 billion stock of gas daily through an extensive pipeline network within the next four years.
According to Kyari, the nation’s crude oil production keeps dropping due to oil theft and vandalism.
The NNPC Ltd. boss emphasized the need to fight insecurity in the oil and gas sector to increase production.
He said: “How do you increase oil production? Remove the security challenge we have in our onshore assets.
“As we all know, the security challenge is real. It is not just about theft; it is about the availability of the infrastructure to deliver the volume to the market.
“No one is going to put money into oil production when he knows the production will not get to the market. Within the last two years, we removed over 5,800 illegal connections from our pipelines.
“We took down over 600 illegal refineries—cooking pots or whatever they were. You simply cannot get people to spend money until you solve that problem.”
Due to pipeline vandalism, Kyari said everyone resorted to barging, with some spending $21 to transport a barrel of oil to the terminals.
He argued that barging and trucking petroleum products did not happen in the 1990s.
“Barging is not normal. Barging is not economical, not even trucking. In 1991, we didn’t think of barging or even putting oil on the trucks. But that’s what we are doing today,” he stated.
However, Kyari disclosed: “The good news is, there is substantial work that is being done by the government, and I’m not going to speak about it. But I know that this will come to pass. It’s already subsiding. We are already seeing the results.
“As of today’s data, we’re inching to 1.7mbpd. We won’t celebrate this. On 17th of April 2020, our production, without doing anything without drilling new wells, shot to 2.2mbpd. The difference was COVID-19. The thieves, the vandals, everybody went to sleep.
“We should be able to take control of this infrastructure. We are doing many things. I am very sure things are changing, and that is why we are seeing the new value that is coming to the table. Production will improve.”
Kyari noted that the AKK pipeline is a key element in the discussion about developing the infrastructure needed to ensure gas supply.
He emphasized that the only remaining task to connect the east and the west is a 2.7-kilometre river crossing.
He promised to complete this by the end of May or June, enabling the flow of gas from the east to the west.
Speaking, NAPE President Abiodun Ogunjobi said that for efficient gas production and utilization, upgrading existing gas infrastructure as well as adding new ones is important.
Also, the Chairman of NAPE’s Board of Trustees, Mr. George Osahon, stressed the significance of NNPC Ltd. as the propagator of oil and gas exploration in Nigeria.
Osahon urged Kyari for industry support in areas such as the availability of technical training and data for research purposes.
Similarly, the immediate past BOT chairman, Chief Chamberlain Oyibo, stated that as the nation’s reserves and production are declining, there is a need for the implementation of good policies and incentives for improvement.
He added that industry stakeholders should not shy away from producing.
Persecondnews had earlier reported that there seemed to be hope in the offing for Nigeria as its dwindling daily oil production turned the corner in April, rising marginally from 1.23 million barrels per day in March to 1.28 mbpd, according to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
In its Monthly Oil Market Report for May, OPEC stated that Nigeria’s oil production added 50,000 barrels daily in the last month after falling in recent times during the month before.
The nation’s crude production fell from 1.32 million barrels per day in February to 1.23 million barrels per day in March.
Kyari’s comment that production had inched close to N1.7mbpd may be a plus for the nation’s economy.
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