Nigeria has lost a mind-blogging amount of crude
oil to the renewed spate of Niger Delta militancy
in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe
Kachikwu has revealed the losses Nigeria has
suffered from the vandalization of oil facilities in
the Niger Delta militants which has caused a dip in
the country's oil earnings.
The former employee of Exxonmobil has said that
Nigeria will have to increase oil output by an
average of 900,000 barrels per day (b/d) in order
to recover crude oil that has been shut in to a
series of militant attacks on oil and gas assets in
the Niger Delta in recent months, ThisDay reports.
Kachikwu, who spoke to CNN’s Richard Quest last
night, however said he was not particularly
optimistic about the possible talks on a production
freeze by other oil producing countries to bolster
prices, saying similar efforts a few months ago
had failed.
Despite his lack of confidence, the price of crude
oil rose yesterday following reports that Russia and
the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) may resume dialogue on a production
freeze.
The petroleum minister said the federal
government was in continuing dialogue with
militants and their representatives in the Niger
Delta and expressed confidence that in the next
one or two months, a resolution will be reached to
end the attacks on oil assets.
“There’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of security
meetings and we expect that in the next one or two
months, we will arrive at a lasting resolution on the
problem in the Niger Delta,” he said.
He added that Nigeria would need to produce on
average 900,000b/d extra to recover oil and the
attendant revenue lost to the militancy in recent
months.
“We are producing some 1.5 million barrels per day
and would need on average 900,000 barrels per day
to catch up on what we have lost. If we can
achieve peace, this will be feasible,” he said.
However, when he was reminded by Quest that an
extra 900,000b/d would run contrary to possible
talks next month on a production freeze in order to
shore up oil prices, Kachikwu said he was not
optimistic that a consensus could be reached on
an output cap, as efforts in the past had failed.
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