ExxonMobil, other oil coys not exiting Nigeria – Kachikwu

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said no International Oil Company (ICO) is planning to exit Nigeria contrary to reports in some sections of the media.

Dr. Kachikwu made this known while briefing newsmen after a facility tour of ExxonMobil Erha Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSO) in Lagos.

FPSO unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production and processing of

hydrocarbons for the storage of oil.

Erha FPSO has a liquid storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels, making it one of its biggest kind in the world. The Erha field and Erha North satellite field was completed in 2006.

The fields are located approximately 97km offshore Nigeria in water depths ranging from 1,000m to 1,200m. They were developed with an investment of $3.5bn.

He said it was not possible for a company like ExxonMobil to sell off its assets for the small amount quoted in the report as its assets were much more worth than that.

“I have confirmed that it is not true, they are going to be here for a long stay, they will be here over the next 50 years, they are looking for more, they are doing all kinds of things, they just begun the exploration campaign first time in four years because of the new cash call policies we put in place.

“That is not a sign of somebody who is exiting. But different from not exiting is to be aggressive. ExxonMobil needs to be more aggressive in terms of development policies,” he said.

He added that ExxonMobil needed to be more aggressive with business as Bonga South West was almost on FID, Egina just kicked off and AGip was struggling to get Zabzaba online.

“So, I need to see a very robust development,” he advised.

Earlier, Mr. Richard Laing, ExxonMobil’s Executive Director, Production, commended the minister for making out time to visit the facility and reiterated that the company had no plans to exit Nigeria. (NAN)