By Seyi Babalola
Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPCL), has declared a state of emergency in crude oil production.
Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, said this on Tuesday during a keynote presentation at the opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja.
According to him: “We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation.”
Kyari went on to say that a thorough asset study found that Nigeria can produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying additional rigs, and that the biggest barrier is industry actors’ failure to respond quickly.
The NNPCL CEO stated that the conflict will force the firm and its partners to swiftly address all identified hurdles to effective production, including procurement delays, which have become a problem in the industry.
Speaking about medium- to long-term initiatives to improve and sustain output, Kyari stated that NNPC will replace all of the existing crude oil pipelines installed over four decades ago.
He said the company will also introduce a rig-sharing programme with its partners to ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years, which is the standard practice in most countries.
The NNPC boss urged all players in the industry to synergize towards reducing the cost of production and enhancing production to target levels.
