The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has said that stability in the Niger Delta region and other factors have pushed the nation’s crude oil production to 2.3 million barrel per day.
This is an additional 200 000 bpd from last year’s 2.1 million bpd figure.
NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), Dr. Maikanti Baru, while speaking during a courtesy visit by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja on Tuesday, explained that the current administration was committed to stabilising the oil and gas sector, adding that $13.6 billion worth of investment was attracted into the sector between 2017 and 2019.
According to him: “Since we came on board, we have been focused on increasing the production of oil and gas and condensates and at some point, our national combined production was about a million barrel (per day) but at the end of 2018, we had moved on averaging last year about 2.1 million barrels per day.
“As I am speaking this morning (yesterday), our combined oil and condensates are 2.32 million barrels a day.
He said further that: “I think this stability and ability to push production came as a consequence of several factors – internal and external, and of course, with the support of the media. Internally, the NPDC, our flagship company owned 100 per cent by NNPC, has pushed their equity production from a low figure of 65,000 barrels per day in 2016 to over 166,000 barrels per day.”
He noted that $3.6 billion investment came in 2017, $3 billion in 2018 while discussions are being finalised for over $7 billion worth of investment, adding that the investments came on the backdrop of intensified efforts to ensure transparency and accountability in the sector, stating that the corporation had continued to disclose its financial details and run a transparent bid process.
