*Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum .
Ike Amos
06 September 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Efforts by the Federal Government to improve the fortunes of indigenous oil firms are yet to yield any meaningful result, as independent and marginal oil fields companies, accounted for 5.55 per cent of Nigeria’s total crude oil and condensates production over a period of four months, from January to April 2017.
Data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, latest Monthly Financial and Operations Report, showed that in the four-month period, independents and marginal fields companies produced 11.723 million barrels of crude oil and condensates, representing 5.55 per cent of total production of 211.22 million barrel produced by all oil companies in the period.
Giving a breakdown of the output on a monthly basis, the NNPC report pointed that in January and February 2017, 2.771 million barrels and 2.739 million barrels of crude oil and condensates were recorded, representing 4.9 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively.
While the report noted that 3.229 million barrels and 2.984 million barrels of crude oil and condensates, representing 6.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent of total production were recorded in March and April 2017 respectively.
In general, the report disclosed that total crude oil and condensates production of 56.95 million barrels, 50.9 million barrels, 49.57 million barrels and 53.8 million barrels were recorded in January, February, March and April respectively.
Also, the report noted that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, accounted for 2.12 per cent of total crude oil and condensate production over the four-month period under review, with 4.482 million barrels of crude oil.
Specifically, the report explained that NPDC, a subsidiary of the NNPC, recorded 1.18 million barrels of crude oil and condensates production, representing 2.07 per cent of total production in January 2017; in February, NPDC produced 1.123 million barrels of crude oil and condensates, representing 2.21 per cent of total production.
In March and April, NPDC recorded 1.095 million and 1.084 million barrels, representing 2.21 per cent and 2.01 per cent of total crude oil and condensates production respectively.
The NNPC had set a 10-year timeframe for indigenous oil and gas companies operating in the country to increase their production from 10 per cent to 50 per cent of national production.
