August 31, (THEWILL) – The federal government is on course to increase the nation’s oil and gas reserves as it implements strategic policies and programmes.
This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) through its head of public affairs, Paul Osu.
The federal government aims to increase its oil reserves from 36.91 billion barrels to 50 billion barrels, and its gas reserves from 206.53TCF to 250TCF in the short- to mid-term.
Speaking in Lagos, Osu said the government’s strategic focus for the upstream sector includes bid rounds, reserve growth, increased production and reduction of production cost per barrel.
He added that most of the companies that won the bid for the nation’s 57 marginal oilfields have paid their signature bonuses to the federal government.
He noted that about 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day, would be added to Nigeria’s production volume within the next few years when the fields begin production.
Osu said the government was also looking at increasing frontier exploration activities, boosted by the recent signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In terms of increasing production, he said the DPR had initiated the Maximum Economic Recovery ( MER) strategy for the oil and gas industry and would be rewarding deserving individuals and companies.
Osu said plans to reduce the cost of production to $10pb were still being implemented and achievable to attract more investors to the sector. He said the DPR would continue to create opportunities for investors and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, and enable the successes of businesses, using its service instruments of licenses, permits and approvals.
