According to the report, the country lost 1.1 million barrels daily, about 23.1 million barrels in 21 days.
Also, Minister of State for Petroleum
Resources Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu confirmed this at a conference in Lagos,
saying the country had to produce an additional 1.1 million barrels of
oil per day (bpd) between now and December to recover the loss and meet
the targeted yearly production.
Nigeria’s daily crude oil production
fluctuates between 1.4 million barrels and 1.6 million bpd, a
development, which implies that the country is short of 1.1 million bpd
to meet its daily production of 2.7million bpd.
In a related development, the Chief
Executive Officer, Frontier Oil Limited, Mr. Thomas Dada, said the
country lost substantial crude oil to the crisis in the Niger Delta.
According to him, the crude oil production had
continued to fluctuate, noting that there was a time the output was 2.1
million bpd before it fell to 1.2 million bpd.
He said the incessant bombing of
pipelines had resulted to dwindling revenue, poor gas supply to the
thermal plants and its attendant low electricity generation, and
capacity utilisation, among others.
The problem, he said, was taking a toll
on the economy as many manufacturing and allied companies had either
closed shops or relocated to neighbouring countries.
Dada said the economy is oil-dependent,
stressing that the fall in the price of crude oil made it difficult for
the government to meet its fiscal obligations.
He said: “Problems such as the fall in
the global prices of crude oil, pipeline vandalism and others are
evident in the country. Apart from the fact that the Federal Government
was unable to finance many critical projects, the nation’s economy has
suffered untold loss. Both the goods producing and servicing firms are
unable to cope with the current economic realities as they lay off their
workers, due to poor power supply and other problems.”
According to him, government and the
private operators needed to critically examine the problems in the oil
and gas and other sectors and proffer solution to them to grow the
economy.
“If urgent steps are not taken to
address the problems confronting the nation’s economy and the oil and
gas industry, the country may plunge into total distress,” he warned.
He said investors were shying away
because of the grim economic situation. According to him, the country
was not yet an investment destination, adding that the government needed
to make the environment friendly to get results in the petroleum
industry and the economy.
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