Nigeria’s Crude Oil Reserves Rise to 37bbls

•  Gas now 192 tcf
•  NNPC earns 35 per cent discount on renegotiated contracts in 2016

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The relative peace in the Niger Delta has begun to yield dividends as the nation’s crude oil reserves, which had plummeted to 28.2 billion barrels (bbls) at the height of militant attacks on oil infrastructures, have now risen back to 37 billion barrels. Also hauled in is the improved 192 trillion cubic feet of gas (tcf) from the previous 186 tcf figures.

A statement in Abuja by NNPC’s Group General Manager Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, quoted the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, in his end of the year message to the corporation’s workers.
Baru, however, did not disclose details of the contracts or how much money the corporation saved from the renegotiations. But he said the NNPC would continue to find sustainable solutions to the challenges of militancy which affects oil and gas production in the Niger Delta.

Prior reports indicated that Nigeria’s crude oil reserves was depleting and subsequently dropped to 28.2bbls. This development also prompted the President of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Nosa Omorodion, to in October 2016, raise the alarm.

Omorodion decried the lack of exploration in the country’s oil and gas sector, and requested the federal government to begin seismic work in the frontier sedimentary basins, which include Bida Dahomey, Anambra, Gongola, and Sokoto to improve Nigeria’s hydrocarbon reserves.

Baru said the reserves have again risen to 37bbls. He added that the NNPC has created security management platforms that would enable it identify and evaluate risks, develop and superintend implementation of investigations, and aggregate and deploy necessary resources to guarantee peaceful business environment in the Niger Delta region.
He stated that the corporation was committed to implementing a robust security and stakeholders’ strategy that would sustain peace in the industry’s operational bases.

Baru expressed happiness with NNPC’s completion of negotiations with its Joint Venture (JV) partners on cash call funding challenges and payment of outstanding arrears.

He said this was achieved by developing a clear payment plan as well as the pursuit of an alternative funding strategy, adding that arrears of up to December, 2015 have been fully reconciled and repayments plan also agreed upon.

He said the decisive objective of the recently signed off agreements between NNPC and its JV partners was to enable NNPC transit into an Incorporated Joint Venture (IJV) business model for all the current JVs.

He said the NNPC had been able to stabilise the supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country with support from Nigerians and its staff, and commenced the implementation of a 12-key business focus areas to enhance its business performance.

“Today, motorists drive in and out of filling stations with ease. This would not have been achieved without the collective efforts of all of us,” Baru said.