From Uche Usim, Abuja
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is targeting to grow its equity crude oil production from the current 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 500,000 bpd by 2020. Currently, the company is the fifth oil producer in Nigeria.
The Managing Director of NPDC, Mr. Yusuf Matashi, who disclosed this in Benin, said the planned increase in the company’s equity production was due to the ongoing transformation in NNPC.
“The NPDC has 55 per cent equity in nine blocks of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 40, 41, 42 and 55; non-equity operations in three blocks of selected NNPC Joint Venture (JV) fields; 60 per cent participatory interest in four blocks of OMLs 60, 61, 62 and 63 and 100 per cent ownership of seven blocks of OMLs 11, 13, 64, 65, 66, 111 and 119. In a nutshell, the company is involved in 29 concessions comprising 22 OMLs and seven Oil Prospecting Leases (OPLs),” Matashi submitted.
He explained that the company had varied interests in seven deep-water concessions and successfully executed a Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) with communities in OMLs 30 and 34, adding that NPDC achieved a major feat by successfully drilling and completing five horizontal wells in nine months in OML 26, leading to production of an additional 7,000bpd.
The MD enthused that NPDC had successfully turned around OML 40 asset from 0bpd to 12,000bpd, which underlined the company’s rising profile as the 7th largest owner and operator of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) in Nigeria, with FPSO Mystra having 1.03 million of crude producibility.
Matashi added that NPDC also carried out some intervention activities, which led to the peak production of approximately 10,000bpd in OML 65 in June 2017.
He declared that presently, the NPDC was the biggest and largest gas producer in the country and was also the highest supplier of gas to the domestic market.
“NPDC’s aggressive gas pursuit since 2009 has also raised the company’s profile as the highest single supplier of gas to the domestic market with an average of 700 million standard cubic feet per day. The Utorogu Non-Associated Gas 11 plant was also completed recently adding 150mmscfd; the Oredo 2 gas plant also adds 100mmscfd and the successful re-entry of Odidi, which led to an addition of 40mmscfd of gas represents a major achievement for the company and a step forward to achieving NPDC’s aspiration to become a serious global player in the E&P industry,” Matashi said.
The NPDC boss maintained that the company, as a responsible and responsive entity, had awarded scholarship to over 6,000 indigent members of its host communities, which traversed host states, renovated and built blocks of classrooms, provided classroom furniture and offered employment opportunities in its areas of operation as a means of empowering the communities.
He applauded the Federal Government, the NNPC Top Management Committee (TMC) and the NNPC management for helping the company to take ownership of OML 13, disclosing that First Oil from that OML was expected by the fourth quarter of the year.
He stated that the greatest challenges of the company were the reoccurring infractions on its facilities and the incessant uprisings by some members of its host communities, adding that a holistic plan was being worked out to address the teething challenges.