Nigeria to increase oil production
The Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Resources, Dr Rilwanu Lukman, has said that the Federal Government will
increase the daily production of oil in Nigeria from the current 2.2 mm bpd to 3 mm bpd before next year.
The special adviser, who was speaking at the 3rd Global Guest on Voice of Nigeria (VON) Forum, said the Federal
Government is giving priority attention to the oil sector.
Dr Lukman said the government has set out a plan to increase daily production from the present 2.2 mm barrels to 3 mm
bpd by the end of the year. Additionally, the country, he said, was working towards increasing its oil reserve from
30 bn barrels to 40 bn barrels by 2010 even as policies to generate as much funds from gas as is presently from oil
are underway, especially with planned stoppage of gas flaring.
"These are aside activities in restructuring and revitalisation of oil and gas industry which are parallel exercises
that we are doing which are intended to go pari pasu with development out there in the field, because with the right
fiscal regime, right structure of the constituent organisations that are working in the oil sector, the private
companies, the joint ventures and all these are necessary to go along with the plan to expand and to rehabilitate the
oil and gas industry," he said.
Dr Lukman stated that Nigeria has continued the importation of oil to supplement the production of our refineries
adding that this will continue except all the country's refineries are producing at full capacity. Presently, he
noted, the Port Harcourt Refinery, the largest in the country is producing at 90 % installed capacity while those of
Kaduna and Warri are slightly above 50 % and cannot in all meet Nigeria's daily fuel consumption put at 450,000
bpd.
It is to meet this target and end importation that the government was considering applications received so far for
private refineries, he said. When the private refineries begin operation, Alhaji Lukman observed, Nigeria will begin
to export refined oil which will translate to more income for the country and stop importation of refined products
which has continued to strangle plans to end government subsidy in the sector.
The special adviser stated that Nigeria will submit its request for increase of OPEC quota in March this year at the
conference of the organisation but cautioned that the process of quota increase was not simple since many other
countries including Saudi Arabia which has a quota of 8 mm bpd as at now are also seeking such increases.
On the increase of world oil prices which has hit $ 32 per barrel in recent times as a result of US threat to attack
Iraq and strikes in Venezuela, Alhaji Lukman advised Nigerians to view such increases as not real as prices could
fall so low after the settlement of the issues.
The Global Guest on Voice of Nigeria, according to Alhaji Abubakar Jigawa, who represented the Director-General of
the organisation at the programme, is aimed at featuring issues affecting Nigeria, Africa and the world in
general.
Alhaji Lukman is the first Nigerian quest to appear on the quarterly programme which started last year.