The Group Managing Director/CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd, (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, has declared that the Nigerian oil industry has the capacity to produce 2 million barrels of crude oil daily.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Nigerian Oil Gas Energy Week in Abuja on Tuesday, Kyari stated that very little effort is all that is needed to increase production.
Nigeria’s oil production has remained depressed at 1.46 million barrels per day despite the efforts of the Nigerian government to tackle oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
Kyari, who declared war on Tuesday on low crude oil production, stressed that while the company was ready to work and collaborate with its partners, it was also determined to leave them behind and forge ahead.
“We went down in our production of both oil and gas, nowhere near our capacity or our capability. We can blame anything, oil theft, integrity, divestments and so on and so forth. But the bottom line is that what we did very recently is to take just a deep breath and look at where we are? And when we look at the data for our production by asset, in the last three months, we discovered that we are actually at 2 million barrels per day. That means we are unable to sustain it.
“And we can blame anything for lack of sustainability. Yes, theft is one of them, vandal actions. But also the sheer inability of all of us, our partners, no exception, including NNPC, our inability to act quickly in a timely manner. Yes, we can blame anything including access to capital. Why don’t we have access to capital? We can blame anything.
“But what we have seen is that we are actually at 2 million barrels per day without doing any of the major things that we’re talking about, without bringing the new 700,000 barrels that (IPPG Chairman) Abdulazak has talked about, without restoring the 200,000 or so that will come from divestment. Without even doing these, we’re actually there. And that is why we, as a partner of 80% of those who produce oil and gas in this country, have decided that we’ll stop the debate,” the Vanguard newspaper on Wednesday quoted Kyari as saying
Declaring a state of emergency in oil production in Nigeria, Kyari said: “And we have declared a war. War means war. We have the right troops.
“We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. And we have engaged our partners. Any partner that doesn’t do what it should do, we will get it done. This is our new way of doing things.
“We can’t wait for anyone. We are moving on. We cannot afford to negotiate any further. So we have stopped the debate. And that is why, by war room, what it means is that we are looking at every asset, every issue that is associated with it. We’ll partner with our counterparties. But if it doesn’t happen, we’ll get it done.”
The areas include the conclusion of all pending IOC divestment transactions including those involving its member companies – Seplat, the Renaissance Consortium and Oando; untangling of issues around deepwater development, particularly in terms of competitive fiscal regime being negotiated with Shell, Total Energies, ExxonMobil and Chevron; adoption of a national value-retention strategy; and the development of Nigeria’s gas resources to catalyse economic growth and complement decarbonisation drive.
According to the report, Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo reiterated the Nigerian government’s determination to increase oil and gas production in the country.
Senator Lokpobiri stated that the immediate and long term economic prosperity of Nigeria depends on increased production that will allow the country to meet domestic demands for crude oil and gas, and for export to earn foreign exchange.
