Rep Committee Seeks Collaboration To Fish Out Crude Oil ThievesOn Tuesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), issued a statement, declaring a state of emergency on production in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
Indeed, Nigeria is a nation with a revenue plan that tilts largely towards crude oil sales.
But this reliance has got its issues, since it is almost like an only road that leads to a treasure mine.
Once it is clogged by unforeseen circumstances, revenue dwindles. Undoubtedly, this affects cost of governance in Nigeria that is largely very high and the populace.
‘War Means War’
Everyone had gathered for the opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja, and then, the state of emergency was announced.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd, Mr. Mele Kyari, briefed the gathering on the reason for the state of emergency.
“We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war.
“We have the right tools, know what to fight and what we have to do at the level of assets.
“We have engaged our partners, and we will work together to improve the situation,” the GCEO declared.
This decision comes at a time that Nigerians are facing the toughest periods in history, where a cup of beans is over 2,000 Naira. The government had taken off the subsidy on petrol, a decision that continues to push prices northwards.
But there are different reasons that the NNPC is making this decision now.
1. To Increase Crude Oil Production
According to the Group CEO, a detailed analysis of assets revealed that Nigeria can conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs.
Nigeria’s crude oil production is bedeviled by many obstacles, some created to filter away the nation’s revenue through illegal means.
There are several claims that the corruption in the system is responsible for this.
However, the NNPC boss sees war.
2. To Remove Impediments
While Nigeria pushes to increase its output, there has been this ding-dong kind of movement and the decline in output often hits the nation hard, with even scarcity of dollar.
At the event, the NNPC’s head pointed out that the major impediment to achieving two million barrels of crude oil per day remains the inability of players to act in a timely manner.
He said the “war” will help the NNPC Ltd. and its partners to speedily clear all identified obstacles to effective and efficient production. Basically, these are delays in procurement processes, which have become a challenge in the industry.
3. To Replace Old Pipelines
In the midst of the emergency are medium to long-term measures aimed at boosting and sustaining production.
According to Kyari, the NNPC Ltd. would replace all the old crude oil pipelines built over four decades ago.
Also, the company will introduce a rig sharing programme with its partners. This will ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years.
According to him, this is the standard practice in most climes.
Furthermore, he called on all players in the industry to collaborate towards reducing the cost of production and boosting production to target levels.
For him, the NNPC is committed to investing in critical midstream gas infrastructure.
Have You Read: Nigeria Can’t Meet Crude Oil Production Quota, See Why
Some that would benefit from this plan are the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines.
The company believes that this will boost domestic gas production.
Also, it will improve supply for power generation, industrial development and economic prosperity of the country.
On Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Kyari observed that NNPC Ltd. had since keyed into the Presidential CNG drive.
He says in conjunction with partners such as NIPCO Gas, the NNPC Ltd. has built a number of CNG stations.
In fact, he says 12 of these stations will be commissioned on Thursday in Lagos and Abuja.
The NNPC Ltd. is the Principal Sponsor of the 2024 NOG Energy Week Conference & Exhibition. It has its theme as “showcasing opportunities, driving investment and meeting energy demand”.
