As the nation works to rebuild its export pipelines, Nigeria’s crude oil production has increased to 1.5 million barrels per day, according to Mele Kyari, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
This comes as the country’s oil and gas production capacity increased to a new record high of 54%. Speaking yesterday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, at the 11th Nigeria Practical Content (PMC) conference hosted by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Kyari disclosed that Nigeria has not seen major spending in the oil and gas sector in the previous ten years.
“We were able to get the trans forcados pipeline back to work. And ultimately, the net effect of that is that from one million barrels three months ago, we are back to 1.5 million barrels per day. Is that our ambition? No. We believe we can get back to 2.4 mbpd early next year,” he revealed.
According to Kyari, if the industry’s problems are solved, Nigeria has the capacity to produce 2.4 million barrels per day. The NNPCL boss argued that gas has the chance to sustainably power the world economy in support of the use of gas for industrial expansion.
He claims that in order to maximize the use of gas, NNPCL has chosen to concentrate on domestic infrastructure. While Kyari asserted that the NNPCL had the potential to supply 3.6 billion standard cubic feet (scf) per day to the Lagos region, the business currently supplies roughly 1.1 billion scf daily to the region.
Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, stated during his presentation that 54% of the oil and gas industry’s capacity was located within the nation.
178 Nigerian Content (NC) plans and 197 NC Compliance Certificates were approved in total in 2022, he continued, adding that this increased the participation of Nigerian businesses in the industry contracting process and increased the percentage of contracts awarded to Nigerian businesses from 79% in 2021 to 82% in 2022.
“We are seeing an increase in investors’ confidence in the industry resulting in new investments in structural steel fabrication and optical fiber cable manufacturing facilities. There is deliberate inclusion of women owned companies and Project 100 companies in bidding for contracts to further diversify and deepen the supply chain development in the country,” he said.
The head of NCDMB emphasized that the Board is intensifying its assistance to Project-100 beneficiaries in the five intervention areas of market access, capacity building, business insights, policy interventions, and research and development.
Three Project 100 beneficiaries received loans with NCDMB-guaranteed interest-free terms through intervention funds this year for their outstanding improvements.
Additionally, 100 businesses have used $10.6 million in intervention grants from NCDMB-NEXIM and NCDMB-BOI. Regarding funding, Wabote emphasized that the Board’s intervention fund portfolio, which is administered by BOI and NEXIM Bank, has increased to $500 million, and now includes loans for working capital, manufacturing, project financing, asset acquisition, and women in oil and gas.
“So far, the $300million NCIFund with BOI has been disbursed in full to more than sixty (60) businesses while about $15million applications have been approved for disbursement under the NEXIM Bank products.
“The products paper for the $50million NOGAPS Manufacturing Fund with BOI has been finalized and will be launched in January 2023 for qualified manufacturers to apply,” he concluded.
