*Lokpobiri: This is the happiest day since my appointment, 2.5m bpd achievable
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The federal government yesterday celebrated Nigeria’s achievement of a 1.8 million barrels per day crude oil and condensate output, after struggling for at least four years to meet the quota allocated to it by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Also yesterday, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, claimed the feat marked his happiest day in office yet, stressing that looking beyond the 1.8 million bpd crude production, 2.5 million bpd was achievable by December.
In its own reaction, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited headed by Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, lauded the achievement, describing it as a collaborative effort among all the stakeholders.
In his remarks on the announcement, Tompolo through his spokesman, Dr Paul Bebenimibo, said the target of 2 million barrels can be exceeded, noting that it was deploying new technologies against oil theft and vandalism in the Niger Delta.
At an event in Abuja to intimate the press about the landmark, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) announced that the feat was achieved alongside its partners, explaining that a 7.4 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscfd) gas output had also been hit.
Commenting on the development, Lokpobiri stated that if Africa must make progress in terms of harnessing its God-given resources, Nigeria must take the lead.
“Today is perhaps my happiest day since I was appointed as Minister of State Petroleum Resources. Why do I say so? I returned from South Africa a few days ago. And in South Africa this week, the discussion was basically about what Nigeria can do as the leader of the industry on the continent.
“The consensus was that what Nigeria cannot do, Africa cannot do. Today, I’m excited that our very hardworking team led by the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, has been able to deliver on the mandate given to them,” Lokpobiri stated.
After years of underproduction, in June this year, President Bola Tinubu gave the marching order to all the security forces in collaboration with the NNPC as well as local security groups like Tantita to ramp up production in months. The directive now appears to be yielding results.
Lokpobiri added: “ We set up a war room, with a view to ramping up production. And the rest of the world is ramping up production. Only Africa is lagging. But Africa is looking for Nigeria’s leadership. Once Nigeria leads, the rest of the continent will follow.
“That was the consensus in Cape Town. And I was very happy to be there. Chairman of the Board said that he is expecting that by December, 2-3 million bpd. And I’m not going to make any statement as to figures. But I know that you guys can get it done.
“You’ve done it before. And you can do it even better. I’ve always contended that during the COVID, we did 2.5 million barrels, with no additional investments, we did that. I believe that that’s possible.
“As I said over December, we are expecting a minimum and I repeat, a minimum of 2 million barrels per day . We are still moving steadily towards that 2.5 million barrels, which we have capacity to do,” the minister added.
Lokpobiri further challenged Kyari and the management team to continue to push for 2.5 million bpd, stressing that they have his full support and pointing out that “everybody wants to play towards achieving that 2.5 million barrels per day by the end of this year.”
Also speaking on the development, Kyari congratulated the ‘Production War Room Team’ that anchored the crude oil production recovery process.
“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.
Kyari stated that the NNPC was ready to increase production both in the short term and in the long term, to levels that are acceptable to its shareholders as a company.
According to him, aside the NNPC, other partners have been given specific targets that must be achieved.
“And we have met nearly all the targets that we have set for ourselves. And we have a line of sight of what will happen tomorrow. It is possible to achieve the higher production.
“And with all the help and support that we have across board, from the Minister to Mr. President to the government security agencies, we have a line of sight of what progress means and will achieve progress” Kyari added.
Separately, in his intervention, Tantita, which is leading the charge among the local security groups manning Nigeria’s oil assets in the Niger Delta, expressed its elation over the feat.
Its spokesman, Bebenimibo said: “This milestone, as you know, was achieved in collaboration with the NNPC, the security forces, and of course Tantita, which has been at the forefront of oil pipeline protection in the Niger Delta. We are determined to take it to 2 million barrels per day before the year runs out, as directed by the President of the Republic of Nigeria, working through the NNPC.
“All the needed machinery has been put in place to ensure that the target is achieved. No effort will be spared to ensure that the economy of Nigeria is galvanised.
“This will lead to a boost in government revenue, thereby making more funds available for the President and his team to run the country effectively. I can assure you that we are not going to rest on our oars until the target is achieved and even exceeded.”
Besides, he noted that new technologies were being deployed to ensure the that the theft of Nigeria’s commonwealth is halted.
“It is a mark that we have been working towards this for a while now. From the beginning of this year, we have been saying that, by God’s grace, we will get to the 2 million barrels per day production.
“And we have actually put more measures in place. We’ve acquired more technologies to monitor the facilities, so that there won’t be any disruption and production will continue to increase.
“So the 1.8 million barrels per day that it has got to, certainly, by the end of the year, we’ll work to get to the 2 million barrels per day. We are working.
“The National Security Adviser (NSA) actually confirmed it yesterday too, that the Niger Delta is very peaceful, things are working out fine there, and it’s a result of what we are putting in place that they have brought out this result.
“So we are fine, we are fine with it. We’ll continue to work towards this and get to the 2 million barrels per day, and even surpass it,” Ekpemupolo added.
Also, giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the NSA, as well as government and private security agencies.
He said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the production war room team was inaugurated on the June 25, 2024, production was at 1.430 million bpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into it sustaining the production recovery to 1.7 million bpd in August and hitting the current 1.808 million bpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2 million bpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.
He charged the company’s management to come up with a cash flow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3 million bpd.
