- Says Investment Hits $5bn, $10bn in Deepwater Offshore Asset
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) Heineken Lokpobiri has scored the government high on the measures taken so far in revamping the oil and gas sector.
Lokpobiri, who presented the scorecard in a statement, said there had been an investment of $5bn and $10bn in deepwater offshore assets; and a $1.6bn investment commitment in oil and gas asset acquisition, in the last 9 months.
He claimed that before coming on board, the country was producing 1.1 million barrels per day, including condensates, but has been increased to 1.7 million barrels per day which is inclusive of condensate.
According to him, the administration has resolved the crisis of internal joint venture contracts and has engaged local communities in the protection of assets, to decrease oil theft in the country.
“Over the past nine months, our efforts have been dedicated to removing these obstacles, restoring investor confidence, and ensuring an enabling environment for business in the oil and gas sector to thrive.
“Our foremost achievement is the significant increase in production. When we took office, production was at approximately 1.1 million barrels per day, including condensates.
“Today, I am proud to report that we have increased our production to approximately 1.7 million barrels per day (inclusive of condensate).
“This increase is a testament to our relentless efforts to streamline operations and resolve conflicts among stakeholders.
“Effort towards revamping redundant oil assets to active status Continuous engagement with IOCs and Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) members in resolving industry disputes towards increasing production.
We have consolidated the existing security framework with private security firms and Government security agencies for pipeline surveillance, which led to a sharp decline in crude oil theft and thus increased production for export.
“During this period, we also experienced the coming on stream of OMLs 13 (Sterling Exploration) and 85 (First E&P), with the respective assets reaching first oil in the development of their licenses.
“These assets are expected to produce an average of 20,000 and 40,000 barrels per day respectively,” he said.
He, however, said upon assumption of office, the government witnessed a “dire lack of investment in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, due to the protracted passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and inconsistent government policies, which drove potential investment to other climates.”
He added: “As I have mentioned on numerous occasions you do not need to know me for me to sign off on your asset acquisition application, once you are of proven technical and financial capacity I will sign off.”