–Production drops to 1.15mbd

By Obas Esiedesa

ABUJA- Revenue from a gas feedstock for Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) export topped crude oil export sales by 1,076.6 percent in the three months of December 2021 to February 2022, the latest figure from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited has shown.

Checks by Vanguard on NNPC Limited reports to the Federation Account Allocation Committee in the past three months showed that while crude oil export fetched the nation just $10.09 million over the three months, feedstock to NLNG amounted to $108.63 million.

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With over 204 trillion standard cubic feet of gas reserves, Nigeria has moved toward developing its gas reserves with the declaration of the decade of gas by the Federal Government last year.

Speaking on Nigeria’s move towards gas, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva said at the Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum: “We have embarked on a critical pathway to ensure that the over 200 Trillion Standard Cubic Feet (TSCF) proven reserves of Natural gas in Nigeria is marshaled to engender domestic economic growth and development beyond 2030.

“In this regard, the Ministry has launched the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) to expand Nigeria’s Domestic utilization as part of the National Gas Policy; the National Gas Flare Commercialization Programme; as well as specific provisions in the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 that elevates LPG as the fuel of choice compared to other competing fuels”.

No respite for oil production

Nigeria’s oil production has been hampered again by rising crude oil theft and attacks on pipelines across the Niger Delta region with the latest figure showing 1.15 million barrels per day production, down from the 1.39 million barrels per day recorded in February.

The Group Managing Director/CEO of NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari who disclosed this over the weekend said the increasing rate of vandalism has caused massive disruption in oil production.

The fall in production would be viewed as a major blow to the nation’s economy, especially the funding of the 2022 Budget which was benchmarked at 1.88 million barrels per day of oil production.

According to him, “As we speak now, there is a massive disruption to our operations as a result of the activities of vandals and criminals along our pipelines in the Niger Delta area. This has brought down our production to levels as low as we have never seen before.

“Today (Friday), we are doing less than 1.15 million barrels per day simply because some criminals decided that they should have some infractions on our pipelines. That is the biggest form of business disruption that we are facing today and this kind of engagements, the certifications that we have today around our systems and processes should be able to respond to this and part of the response is to bring in the best framework possible to contain the situation.

“I am happy to tell us that enormous work is going on between us and relevant government security agencies, our partners particularly those that are at the corridors that are impacted and also the community members, and I am very optimistic that within the next two to three weeks every measurable outcomes will come so that our businesses can continue.

“Also, as we speak now, the Nigerian Navy is launching a massive operation to contain oil theft in the Niger Delta region to ensure that every asset of the Nigerian Navy will be deployed with the support of the industry and NNPC, in particular, to make sure that we arrest the situation”.