Nigeria’s crude oil production has risen by 80 per cent in three years, with output reaching 1.824 million barrels per day, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, has said.
Lokpobiri disclosed this during an interactive session with selected media organisations from the Niger Delta at the Bayelsa State Government House.
The minister said crude oil and condensate production was below one million barrels per day when the President Bola Tinubu administration assumed office.
He also attributed the increased output to a sharp rise in drilling activity, revealing that the number of active oil rigs had increased from fewer than 10 to more than 70.
“When this government came, we had about 10 active rigs in the country. These rigs are the ones that drill new oil wells,” he said.
“All the oil wells we are producing today were drilled in the 60s and 70s. By the time we came, there were less than 10 active rigs. As of today, we have over 70 active rigs. That shows activity. That shows enormous activity and investment going on in the oil and gas sector.”
Lokpobiri said the sector had also witnessed renewed investments by international oil companies, including Shell and ExxonMobil, alongside projects such as Bonga North, Bonga Southwest and Zabazaba.
He added that indigenous companies had increased their contribution to domestic oil production, saying they now accounted for about 60 per cent of local output, compared with the previous dominance of international oil companies.
The minister also defended the use of revenues from the removal of petrol subsidy, saying a significant portion of the funds was distributed among the Federal, state and local governments.
“Today, we are sharing over N2tn,” Lokpobiri said, arguing that the increased revenue had enabled states that previously struggled to pay salaries to meet their wage and pension obligations and fund capital projects.
He urged Nigerians to hold state and local governments accountable for how the increased allocations were spent.
At the federal level, he said the funds were being channelled into initiatives including student loans, social investment programmes and compressed natural gas projects.
The minister also said there had been little or no investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector for more than a decade before the current administration, but that the situation had changed with renewed investor interest.
His comments came after the Chief Executive Officer of Rehoboth Media, Susie Ogun, commended the Tinubu administration for what she described as increased stability, investment and activity in the petroleum sector.
Ogun urged the President and the minister to sustain the momentum and attract more investments into the industry.
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