19 June 2012, Sweetcrude, LAGOS – GROUP managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, has said Nigeria’s crude oil production has peaked at 2.48 million barrels per day (bpd).
Addressing journalists on the sidelines of the just-concluded 5th Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) International Seminar in Vienna, Austria, Oniwon said about 700,000bpd came from deep offshore productions, while the balance was from traditional onshore fields, with more volumes expected over the next couple of months, particularly from the abandoned locations.
Nigeria’s current output is well above the 1.4 and 1.5 million bpd the country tried to maintain at the height of militancy.
Oniwon insists that there was no fear of inability of Nigeria meeting its OPEC quota as the country was now in a good position to meet the quota.
He said: “As at today, at 2.48million bpd, which is far, far away from the period when we were doing 1.4 to 1.5million during the period of militancy, there is no question about not meeting our quota. So I think we are doing well and definitely, we are meeting our quota.”
He argued that fears expressed over the country’s ability to meet its OPEC quota on account of current security challenges were over exaggerated.
“I think we should not over hype the insecurity issue in Nigeria, the production has gone up and a lot of production is coming from the deep offshore.
“As of today, we are doing over 700,000 bpd from offshore locations, while we are trying to bring back all the land locations that were abandoned and destroyed during the militancy period,” he said.
