Nigeria Records Stable Oil Production Level of 2.3mbpd

Kasim Sumaina

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru yesterday stated that the corporation as at June 2019 recorded 2.3 million barrels per day of crude oil production.

Baru also disclosed that the corporation attracted $3.6 billion and $3 billion in 2017 and 2018, respectively, adding that negotiations were currently ongoing to attract several billions of dollar worth of investments into the oil and gas sector.

He made the disclosure in Abuja while hosting the executive members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by its National President, Mr. Chris Isiguzo.

Baru, said: “We have been able to attract FDIs into the oil and gas industry and in 2017 alone we attracted about $3.6 billion; in 2018 we attracted about $3 billion. At the moment we are negotiating sums in the region of $7 billion as FDIs that will come into the oil and gas sector,” Baru said.

The GMD, NNPC, noted that since his coming into office in July 2016, “we are focused on increasing production of oil and gas and condensates. At some point, our national combined production of oil was about a million barrels. I am happy that at the end of 2018 we have moved on, averagely last year about 2.1 million barrels.”

“As I am speaking this morning, I look at our production figures, combine oil and condensates, we are pushing 2.3 million barrels per day. I think this stability and ability to push production has come as a consequence of several factors: our relationship internally, externally and of course with the media.”

“In the gas sector, we have a pushed at a lower level of about 450 million standard cubic feet per day to say that for the domestic alone, we are covering about 1.5billion cubic feet (bcf) that is 1,500 million standard cubic feet per day of gas.

“Internally, we have a flagship company, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC). This is 100 per cent NNPC operations; they have pushed their production and equity size from a lower figure of about 65,000 barrels per day in 2016 to over 166,000 per day equity. And overall production for NPDC, we are about to maintain it at close to 300,000 barrels per day. It’s quite a significant boost.”