Kachikwu: Oil Production Has Risen to 2mbpd

House c’ttee threatens arrest of oil firms’ CEOs

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has disclosed that the country is currently producing about two million barrels of crude oil per day, following the reduction in militant activities in the Niger Delta region.

The increase in output puts Nigeria closer to its budget projection of 2.2m bpd, a figure which Kachikwu said would soon be attained and exceeded when ongoing repairs are completed at the Forcados Terminal, in a couple of weeks.

The 2017 N7.3 trillion budget is projected on the production of 2.2 million bpd at $44.5pb.

Kachikwu, while speaking when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) for the ministry’s budget defence session yesterday, elaborated plans to increase revenue for the government in the sector.

“We experienced a lot of militancy in 2016 with production dropping at some point to 1.2million bpd, but by December, we were up to 1.8 million bpd. Right now, we are doing 2 million,” he said.

The sum of N69 billion is proposed for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, out of which N61 billion is proposed for personnel costs, N7 billion for capital projects, and N1.1 billion as overhead expenditure.

He added that the ministry is focused on the downstream sector, to rehabilitate deteriorating infrastructure, and reconstruct oil distribution platforms which are aging.

The ministry would also enhance transparency in the oil sector, with improved tracking of crude oilto curb oil theft, and periodic briefings on the sector to Nigerians and the world, the minister added.

He also disclosed that the government is working on plans to return the responsibility of protecting their oil assets, back to the oil companies, who would engage security firms and also work in collaboration with their host communities.

Speaking on the proposed modular refineries, Kachikwu said the model is capable of producing 5,000 barrels per day of kerosene, and diesel.

In another development, the ad hoc committee investigating alleged huge debts and criminal acts of sabotage by oil companies has threatened to issue warrants of arrests for the chief executive officers of some of the firms.

The committee was miffed that the CEOs of the invited oil firms chose to send representatives, mostly lawyers, instead of appearing in person.

Some of the affected oil companies include Total, Mobil, NIPCO, Forte, Oando Nigeria, and MRS. The committee, at the hearing, walked out the representatives of the firms.

The hearing was at the instance of a motion sponsored by Hon. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (Cross River PDP).