Oil output hits 2.09m barrels

Nigeria’s crude oil daily production is up by 9 per cent to about 2.09 million barrels.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director Dr. Maikanti Baru said this maintained a line of consistent year-on-year improvement.

Dr. Baru, in a comprehensive end-of-year-message to the NNPC staff, listed Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Duke Oil, NIDAS and Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) among the re-engineered companies.

In the statement signed by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, Baru singled out NPDC, the corporation’s Upstream flagship company, as the major contributor to the industry’s success in 2018.

Baru said the average production from NPDC’s operated assets alone grew from an average of 108,000 of oil per day (bod) in 2017 to 165,000bod in 2018, describing the feat as the strongest production growth within the oil industry in recent times, even as he noted that it was worth being celebrated.

The GMD said NPDC’s equity production share, which stands at 172,000bod, representing about 8 per cent of national daily production, was no less impressive, adding that the desired results are outcomes of initiatives his Management team emplaced, among which, he noted, are the Asset Management Tea (AMT) structure, Strategic Financing, Units Autonomy and security architecture framework.

Of the Industry milestones in the outgone year, Baru described the 200,000bop addition which the Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), completed and sailed away to location in August, last year, added to nation’s daily production, even as he disclosed that the project achieved First Oil at 11.20pm on 29th December, 2018.

The NNPC GMD said $1.7billion was saved with corporation’s Joint Venture (JV) partners over a five-year tenor repayment plan, saying already the corporation has defrayed $1.5billion of the arrears.

Baru promised that NNPC would stick to the Repayment Agreement with the JV Partners while transiting to self-funding IJV modes with the corporation’s partners. He said tiding up  Cash Call issues had led to increased commitment and enthusiasm to invest in the industry even as it has also boosted NNPC’s credit profile internationally.

Baru concluded the achievements of NNPC in the Upstream sector by listing other milestones achieved by his team to include: reduction in contracting cycle for Upstream Operations to nine months from an average of 24, even as the corporation targets a six months cycle; lowering of production cost from $27/barrel to $22/barrel; and improving on the security situation in the Niger Delta through constructive engagement and dialogue with stakeholders.

In the frontier basins, NNPC has intensified exploration in the Benue Trough, with the expected spudding of Kolmani River Well 2 on 19thJanuary.

Activities will resume in the Chad Basin as soon as there is a greenlight on the security situation in the enclave.

In the Midstream, the NNPC GMD stated, Nigeria achieved an average national daily gas production of 7.90bscf, translating to 3 per cent above the 2017 average daily gas production of 7.67bscf.

He said of the 7.90bscf produced in 2018, an average of 3.32bscfd (42%) was supplied to the export market, 2.5bscfd (32%) for Reinjection/Fuel Gas, 1.3bscfd (16%) was supplied to the domestic market and about 783mmscfd (10%) was flared.

The GMD stated that out of the 1.3bscfd supplied to the domestic market, an average of 71mmscfd went to the Power Sector; 470mmscfd was supplied to the Industries and the balance of 69mmscf delivered to the West African Market through the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP).

Baru said NNPC would bridge the medium-term domestic gas supply deficit by 2020 through the corporation’s Seven Critical Gas Development Projects (&CGDPS), adding that a reputable Project Management consulting firm is collaborating with an NNPC team to achieve accelerated implementation of the projects.

He lauded the contribution of the corporation’s Downstream outfit, NNPC retail, saying it played a significant role in ensuring continuous supply of petroleum products to Nigerians through its Mega, Affiliates and Leased stations.

Baru flaunted the company’s sale of 1.2 billion litres of petroleum products in 2018 as against 1.1 billion litres in 2017, representing a seven per cent increase.

He said the feat was achieved through an addition of 40 new Affiliate and Leased stations, which he said, brought the company’s network to 618 stations nationwide.

“We are currently planning for a better performance and achievement in 2019, especially with the continuous innovations and creativity in the downstream sector and the performance bond signed by all the relevant heads of our operating units.

“Continuous improvement as one of the principles of world class organisations is going to remain our key word in 2019. Last year was empirically better than 2017, we believe, plan and strive to achieve a better performance this year, by God’s grace,” Baru concluded in his end-of-year statement.