The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has declared a state- of- emergency on crude oil and gas production in the country.
The goals, according to the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, are to boost the nation’s production capacity and foreign reserves.
Kyari, who explained that the state- of- emergency would focus on tackling ‘’all major obstacles to effective and efficient crude and gas production,’’ added that 12 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations built by NNPC Limited in collaboration with NIPCO Gas would be inaugurated tomorrow in Lagos and Abuja.
He made this known while delivering a keynote address at the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition, in Abuja yesterday
The NNPC Limited boss listed inability of players to act in a timely manner, delays in procurement processes and old crude oil pipelines as some of the impediments to oil and gas production in the country.
He explained that a detailed analysis of assets revealed that the country could conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day instead of the average 1.4 million bpd.
“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,” Kyari said.
On medium to long-term measures aimed at boosting and sustaining production, the GCEO said NNPC Limited would replace all old crude oil pipelines built over four decades ago and also introduce a rig-sharing programme with its partners.
The deployment of new pipelines and rig sharing programme would ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years as done 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.
He 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.