In a move towards increasing Nigeria’s crude oil production and growing its reserves, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has declared a state of emergency on production in the oil and gas industry.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, disclosed this while speaking at the opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

Kyari said: “We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets.

“We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation.”

The NNPCL boss stated that a detailed analysis of assets revealed that Nigeria can conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs, saying the major impediment to achieving that remains the inability of players to act in a timely manner.

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He said the “war” will help the NNPCL and its partners to speedily clear all identified obstacles to effective and efficient production such as delays in procurement processes, which have become a challenge in the industry.

On medium to long-term measures aimed at boosting and sustaining production, Kyari said the NNPCL would replace all the old crude oil pipelines built over four decades ago and also introduce a rig sharing programme with its partners to ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years which is the standard practice in most climes.

Kyari called on all players in the industry to collaborate towards reducing the cost of production and boosting production to target levels.

The NNPCL boss further expressed the company’s commitment to investing in critical midstream gas infrastructure such as the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines to boost domestic gas production and supply for power generation, industrial development and economic prosperity of the country.

On Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Kyari noted that the NNPCL has since keyed into the Presidential CNG drive, adding that in conjunction with partners such as NIPCO Gas, the NNPCL has built a number of CNG stations, 12 of which will be commissioned in Lagos and Abuja on Thursday, July 4.

The Star