BY FESTUS OKOROMADU, ABUJA
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resource (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri has assured that the country can achieve its 2024 crude oil production benchmark of 1.78 million barrels per day.
The Minister who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Nneamaka Okafor, said the Federal Government was making efforts to remove all bottlenecks that will hinder the country meeting and surpassing the project.
This is even as the latest report by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission showed that the country’s crude oil production was 1,250,299 bpd in November 2023.
The figure indicated a 100,274 bpd decline or 7.42 percent plunge from the output of 1,350,573 bpd recorded in October 2023.
The report further indicated that Nigeria’s oil production in addition to condensate, dropped to 1.46 million bpd in November from 1.56 million barrels in October 2023.
According to the statement, Lokpobiri who was reported to have spoken at a stakeholders’ interactive session on ‘Creating value and enabling investments in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector’ organised by Chevron Nigeria Plc, insisted that the government is targeting 2 million bpd.
“As a government, we are willing to sustain that engagement with the stakeholders so that in 2024 and beyond, we will ensure that we produce not just 1.7 million bpd that we need for our budget but ensure that we produce what is needed to meet the local demand,” Lokpobiri was quoted to have said.
The Minister stated the present administration has increased the country’s oil production from about 1 million bpd and steadily increased to 1.4 million barrels per day.
He added that his goal is to continue this upward trajectory, stressing that the government is committed to creating an enabling environment for stakeholders to thrive.
“As a new government that is business-friendly, with a clear mandate to ramp up production, we are willing to ensure that our fiscal regime is competitive globally.
“My appeal is that this old marriage let us manage it, sustain it and improve on it. Whatever your concerns may be, let us put them on the table to disagree to agree,” he said.
Lokpobiri reassured stakeholders of the government’s diligent effort to address challenges facing the sector and provide the best playing field for both international oil companies and independents to make the necessary investments.
“As a country, we can produce more than 2 million barrels per day. We have identified the issues bedeviling the sector and are already working on them.
“I would replicate this programme with all the IOCs and independents so that we can make the sector work for all of us and Nigerians at large, and I know that 2024 will be a much better year,” he said.