Energy Briefs
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NIGERIA will have to increase oil output by an average of 900,000 barrels per day, bpd, to cover crude oil that was shut in because of series of militant attacks on oil facilities in the region. Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, who stated this in an interview with Richard Quest on Cable News Network, CNN, on Monday, August 15, also added that he was not particularly optimistic about the possible talks on a production freeze by other oil producing countries to bolster prices because similar efforts a few months ago had failed.
The petroleum minister said the federal government was continuing dialogue with militants and their representatives in the Niger Delta and expressed confidence that in the next one or two months, a resolution will be reached to end the attacks on oil assets. “There’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of security meetings and we expect that in the next one or two months, we will arrive at a lasting resolution on the problem in the Niger Delta,” he said.
“We are producing some 1.5 million barrels per day and would need on average 900,000 barrels per day to catch up on what we have lost. If we can achieve peace, this will be feasible. Also, OPEC accounts for 30 per cent of total global output, so we will need to be aggressive in our engagements with producers that account for 70 per cent of output, so it is only if a consensus is reached, then me have some hope,” he said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, had on July 21, said that it recorded 1,447 incidences of pipeline vandalism resulting in the loss of millions of litres of products worth billions of naira in 2016 alone. In 2015, Nigeria lost 643 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit valued at N51.3 billion through pipeline vandalism alone.
According to the NNPC, the volume of products lost through vandalism of oil and gas infrastructure alone underscored the need for stakeholders, especially security agencies, to devise more effective strategies to address the menace. Though security agencies were doing much to address the menace, the persistence of oil thieves and saboteurs was affecting even the 2016 budget implementation.
“The supply and distribution of Nigeria’s oil and gas resources remain critical to the survival of our economy, but it is saddening to note that these critical national assets have become targets of vandalism and sabotage. The budget plan of the federal government is grossly affected as a result of the development because of the shortage presently estimated at 700,000 barrels per day. The gas to power projections of government is also being hampered due to the activities of the vandals,” the NNPC said.
— Aug 29, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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