Business News
Crude oil reserves now 34 billion barrels
Dec 10, 2003, 14:12
| | Nigeria’s crude oil reserve is now 34 billion barrels, up from 26 billion in 1999 when the Obasanjo administration assumed office.
This was achieved through increased exploratory activities in the upstream sector, including the acquisition of 42,185 sq kilometres of 3-D seismic data and the drilling of 62 oil wells in the fourth quarter of this year.
Industry experts are optimistic that the 40 billion barrels reserve target set in 2000 by President Obasanjo is achievable.
Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr Macauley Ofurhie said on 9 December that Nigeria has the technical capacity to achieve a 2.5 million daily crude oil production but is being hampered by a restrictive OPEC quota regime.
The Department, he said, is currently engaged in raising production standards and quality in the country’s oil exploration activities through the implementation of the National Production Management System (NPMS).
NPMS is an electronic collection of production data from the companies' production base to the department, to be fed into a database.
The information gathered assists the DPR to improve quality, consistency and speed of production reporting from the operators.
Mr Ofurhie said that in addition to gathering critical production data, the system assists in improving the monitoring of gas flare reduction policy.
It also enhances strategic planning for oil exploration and development in Nigeria, he said.
Mr Ofurhie also announced the award of a contract for the establishment of a National Data Repository.
He said that on completion, the depository would enable the department to preserve and maintain Exploration and Production (E & P) data, which can be made available to new investors in the oil and gas sector.
© Copyright 2006 nigeriafirst.org
Top of Page | 
