The Federal Government has announced plans to increase crude oil production to two million barrels per day (bdp) and beyond by December 2023.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, made this known during a meeting with the Abuja Energy Correspondent Association in Abuja on Friday, October 13.

Lokpobiri said the government was working assiduously to ramp up crude oil production to two million bpd by the end of the year.

The minister said: “The reason why we are underperforming is because of insecurity and we are gradually tackling those problems.

“My sole agenda is to increase production; once we increase production we will get more revenue for the country. You know Nigeria is still more dependent on oil.

“Though the non-oil sector is also supporting the economy, a substantial part of our forex comes from oil.

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“So, my ambition is to see how I can lead the sector to increase production so that we can get more revenue to deal with the fund and strategic rationale projects in the country.”

He said there was an increase in production, adding that as of last month, it was 1.1 million barrels while currently, it has increased to 1.3 – 1.4 million barrels.

“I get the reports from relevant authorities. Today, we are doing about 1.4 million barrels of crude. So, we are steadily increasing but our target is to see how we can get to two million barrels,” he added.

Lokpobiri, while urging relevant stakeholders to put hands on deck to tackle challenges in the sector, said he has been interacting with some of them, including the International Oil Companies and local producers.

He noted that the engagement with them was already yielding results, saying: “We have identified where the problem is, where we are getting the shortfall, and we are already engaging them. Within the next few weeks, we will be able to give you how far we have gone in that direction.”

The minister said some of the solutions might not be immediate but once identified there would be provision of a good framework to address the problems.

On his part, the president of the association, Victor Nnodim, reiterated the association’s readiness for collaboration and sought the minister’s support in driving his developmental agenda and moving the industry forward.

The Star