Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), said Nigeria is targeting to increase its crude oil production to two million barrels per day by next year.
Lokpobiri said the government was working seriously to achieve the target noting that the reason the country is underperforming is insecurity and is gradually tackling it.
“My sole agenda is to increase production, once we increase production, we will get more revenue for the country. You know Nigeria is still more dependent on oil.
“Though the non-oil sector is also supporting the economy, a substantial part of our forex comes from oil. So, my ambition is to see how I can lead the sector to increase production so that we can get more revenue to deal with the fund and strategic rationale projects in the country,” he said. The minister announced that the country was already producing 1.3 – 1.4 million barrels per day
“Today, we are doing about 1.4 million barrels of crude. So, we are steadily increasing but our target is to see how we can get to two million barrels,” he said.
While urging relevant stakeholders to put hands on deck to tackle challenges in the sector, the minister said he had been interacting with some of them, including the International Oil Companies and local producers, saying the engagements were already yielding results.
“We have identified where the problems are and where we are getting the shortfall and we are already engaging them within the next few weeks, we will be able to give you how far we have gone in that direction.
He said some of the solutions might not be immediate but once identified there would be provision of a good framework to address those problems.
He said the government was primed towards rebuilding confidence of investors and rekindling the industry to become more competitive.
Meanwhile Oil Assets Surveillance Contractors Forum, OASCF, has discovered a major tapping on the Trans-Niger Pipeline, TNP, used by oil thieves in syphoning crude from the facility in Bonny Local Government Area, Rivers state.
The team, which uncovered the crude oil theft point at Ogbonga, Oloma community has called on security agencies to move in to open investigations into the development.
Graham Pepple, the Secretary of OASCF in Bonny Kingdom, who expressed the group’s concern said they discovered the illegal loading point on the Trans-Niger Pipeline, TNP, a facility belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC.
Pepple said “we call on the military, police, civil defense, all relevant security high commands to move in to investigate the illegal oil loading point sited at Ogbonga, Oloma community. The illegal connection (IC) was found to have been installed for purpose of feeding illegally refineries from the TNP Line. We urged the security authority to carry out proper investigation to ascertain those involved in the installation of the bunkering line.
“We are surprised that despite robust presence of the army and navy houseboats stationed around the said location, loading of illegally refined products via a line illegally connected to the TNP at Ogbonga area of Bonny Island is still going on.
Pepple further noted that the surveillance firm which works for SPDC would not want to jump into conclusion on who operates the illegal loading point, adding that proper investigation should be done to unravel the operators.
“We are not jumping to any conclusion. All we can say for now is for the security high commands to move for thorough investigations to ascertain what the situation is. We are on ground to assist with useful information,” he said.
