Petroleum minister confident despite decade-long production challenges
Nigeria has established an aggressive new oil production target of 2.5 million barrels per day by year-end, significantly raising the bar from previous goals. Petroleum Resources Minister Heineken Lokpobiri revealed the ambitious objective during the Oil Technology Conference Africa Energy Forum.
“When the new NNPC management visited me, I increased their oil production target to 2.5 million bpd from the initial two million barrels given to them by the President,” Lokpobiri stated, expressing confidence in achieving the goal despite Nigeria’s production not exceeding 2 million bpd in over a decade.
The minister pointed to ongoing efforts addressing pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger Delta as key factors enabling the production surge. Industry data shows Nigerian output has generally declined since peaking near 2 million bpd in 2016, but recent developments offer promising signs.
ExxonMobil’s recent decision to invest $1.5 billion in deepwater oil development represents a significant vote of confidence in Nigeria’s petroleum sector. The investment, planned between 2025 and 2027, will revitalize production in the Usan deepwater oilfield according to Nigeria’s Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Source: Oilprice.com
