‘Independent oil producers record 100% increase in crude output’

Crude oil output from independent and sole risks producers have increased by over 100 per cent from 2.388 million barrels recorded in May 2017 to 7.487 million barrels in June, current data from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has shown.

According to the NNPC’s data titled: “Crude Oil Well-head Production by Company,” contribution from indigenous oil producers has been on the increase since June 2016.

For example, independent producers’ crude oil production increased from 2.105 million barrels in June 2016 to 2.57 million barrels in September; 2.693 million barrels in October; 2.876 million barrels November to 7.486 million barrels in June 2017 respectively.

Individual companies have also increased their production output by over 100 per cent.

Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) increased its oil output from 1.190 million barrels in June 2016 to 4.478 million barrels in June 2017.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company also increased oil production from 195,749 barrels in June 2016 to 684,581 barrels in June 2017.

Shoreline’s crude oil output increased from 158,575 barrels in June 2016 to 26,515 barrels in October 2016 and to 444,240 barrels in June 2017.

However, production output from Joint Venture Companies crashed from 26.061 million barrels in May 2017 to 25.553 million barrels in June of the same year.

Output from production sharing companies decreased from 26.516 million barrels in May 2017 to 25.115 million barrels of the same year.

Meanwhile, the NNPC has attributed the decline in crude oil production to disruption and pipeline vandalism.

According to it, in December 2017, a total of 161 pipeline points were vandalised, 15 pipeline points either failed to be welded or ruptured/clamped.

Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who spoke on the continuous disruption of crude oil production in Nigeria, charged the private sector to continuously look for opportunities to partner with the public sector to enable the realisation of the country’s economic goals.

He noted that the development of the much-needed critical infrastructure should not be seen as the sole responsibility of government, adding that good infrastructure plays a critical role in ending extreme poverty and increasing shared prosperity among the citizenry.

He said the NNPC would be going into the deeper Maiduguri sub-basin to acquire more 3D seismic data as soon as normalcy returns to the Chad Basin.

Besides, Baru said four wells were also being planned for drilling to further test the prospects identified around Kolmani River-1, Nasara-1 and Kuzari-1 in 2018.