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.