Nigeria oil reserves drying, latest figures reveal

Contrary to the Federal Government’s target of increasing crude oil reserves, the country recorded a decline of 961.47 million barrels in four years on the back of low investment in exploration by oil companies.

According to figures from the Department of Petroleum Resources, the oil reserves shrank from 32.23 billion barrels in 2012 to 31.27 billion barrels in 2016 while the condensate reserves expanded to 5.47 billion barrels from 4.91 billion barrels in 2012, the latest data obtained from the Department of Petroleum Resources

The federal government in 2010 set the target of 40 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and a production of four million bpd by 2020 but exploration activity has slowed in recent years. Although the NNPC might have struck some veins in the north, especially Borno.

DPR Driector Mordecai Ladan said in the latest Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Annual Report that the sector has been affected by the 2014 crude price crash.

“Novel technology, especially on extraction of shale oil opened the fresh vistas for unconventional oil with significant destabilising effects on conventional producers like Nigeria.

According to him, the new oil from unconventional frontiers and the rising profile of green energy are posing considerable challenges and opportunities for Nigeria.

“Nigeria like other conventional oil producers around the world is also grappling with the growing competition for market space from the renewable energy sector,” he added.

He, however, said those market challenges also had ingrained in them new vistas of opportunities on oil and gas activities in Nigeria.

But he gave some glimmer of hope concerning the petroleum industry governance bill passed by the NASS, and others still pending.

NNPC Managing Director Maikanti Baru said last week that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill would yield $10bn worth of oil and gas investment for Nigeria.