‘Nigeria will meet 2.3mbpd crude for 2019 budget benchmark’

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that the oil industry will achieve the 2.3 million barrels per day production volume target for the 2019 budget.

Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who stated this yesterday at a presentation to the Senate Committee on Finance on the 2019-2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), said that measures had been emplaced to attain the set mark.

The GMD stated that with improved security in oil-bearing communities as a result of sustainable community partnership, the industry was confident of attaining the production target.

Baru, represented by Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy of the corporation, Bala Wunti, said though the country had production capacity of over 2.5mbd, unfortunate security situations of the past in areas of operation made it difficult to achieve desired production targets.

“Thankfully, the current administration under President Muhammadu Buhari is strongly focused on engagement and sustainable community partnership, which has resulted in improved security and production. This will further improve and we are thus confident of achieving the 2019 budget production target,” he said.

On the possible impact of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota on Nigeria’s production target, the NNPC GMD said that the production target of 2.3 million barrels per day was a combination of liquid hydrocarbon production comprising crude oil and condensate, noting that the OPEC quota only covers crude oil production.

He further said that with Nigeria’s condensate production currently oscillating between 400,000 to 600,000 barrels per day, the country was in a good position to attain the overall production benchmark saying that the corporation was working assiduously with other relevant agencies to ensure the attainment of the 2019 budget assumptions contained in the 2019 – 2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

The GMD stressed that the NNPC’s mandate on the MTEF was on the key thematic indicators of Production Volume, Crude Oil Price and Unit Crude Oil production Cost.

Baru also informed that Nigeria’s crude oil grade traded higher than Dated Brent, attributing the development to the recent reforms in the crude oil management regime with emphasis on entrenching pricing transparency and performance.

He restated NNPC’s commitment to transparency and efficiency in every aspect of its operations, stressing that under his watch, the corporation had recorded considerable gains in all the thematic indicators.