– Mele Kyari’s disclosure rather disingenuous
Lagos — In a bid to obtain more favourable quota allocations from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Nigeria had 6 years ago embarked on a campaign to get reporting agencies in Europe and the United States of America to cease reporting its crude oil output alongside that of condensate.
At the time, Nigeria’s campaign succeeded, and the accomplishment was celebrated in government circles owing to the added revenue receipts the country was poised to receive.
Mele Kyari, the CEO of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL’s recent disclosure that Nigeria is pumping 1.67 million barrels of oil and condensates per day has struck oil watchers in the know as rather odd and disingenuous.
“Why didn’t Kyari disclose the figures separately by telling us how much of the 1.67 million barrels constitute crude oil and how much condensates account for?” An oil trader who pleaded anonymity queried.
“Can Mele Kyari also share with Nigerians how much revenue the country has made from export of condensates volume over the last 6 years, after the government campaigned for a separation in the reporting of both volumes.”
The oil trader also decried Mele Kyari’s claim that President Bola Tinubu has “re-engineered the security approach, noting that all the measures currently in place were instituted by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Africa’s top oil producer recorded an average daily oil output (NGOIL=ECI) of 1.22 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the second quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics said a week earlier.
Large-scale oil theft from pipelines and wells has hobbled the country’s output and crimped exports in recent years, damaging Nigeria’s finances and leaving Tinubu with one of his biggest challenges.
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