By Udeme Akpan & Obas Esiedesa, Abuja
The Group CEO, NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari has declared that with Nigeria’s current assets, the industry has capacity to produce two million barrels of crude oil daily.
Kyari, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Nigerian Oil Gas Energy Week in Abuja on Tuesday, said very little effort is all that was needed to increase production.
Nigeria’s oil production has remained depressed at 1.46 million barrels per day despite the Federal Government’s effort to tackle oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
The GCEO who declared war on low production, stressed that while the company was ready to work and collaborate with its partners, it was also determined to leave them behind and forged 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 two 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 two 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”.
Kyari who declared a state of emergency in oil production 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”.
He accused the operators including NNPC of having “principalities” amongst their staff, pointing out that procurement has been turned into a business thereby increasing cost per barrel in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
“For us as a company, we are moving to another level and very soon we are going to cap the cost of production. If you like you can call your wife to do the contracting, no problem provided you produce the oil at $20 or so”, he told the operators.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group, IPPG, Mr. Abdulrazaq Isa lamented that the country was producing at a level significantly below its capacity.
He listed four priority areas that must be fixed for oil production to improve and meet the government’s target.
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.
In their separate addresses, the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo pledged the government’s determination to increase oil and gas production in the country.
Senator Lokpobiri noted that the immediate and long term economic prosperity of Nigeria depended on increased production that would allow the country to meet domestic demands for crude oil and gas, and for export to earn foreign exchange.
