Stakeholders envision further drop in oil production
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry predict that the country may suffer even lower crude output than stated in last week’s report by the International Energy Agency, IEA, that Nigeria’s crude oil output declined to a six-month low to 1.96 million barrels per day, mbd contrary to budget benchmark of 2.567mbd.
The immediate past president of the National Association of Petroleum Explorationists, NAPE, Mr. Afe Mayowa, argued that the drop in oil production did not come as a surprise, as many stakeholders had showed anxiety in the beginning of 2013 when government made the 2.567mbd benchmark.
For them, it was an ambitious projection. “I am not surprised because all the attendant problems in the Niger Delta are still there – community issues, vandalism, PIB. The PIB will not be passed in the life of this administration because those who are supposed to make it come to light are more concerned about their personal gains rather than national interest.
“Also, vandalism is not restricted to Niger Delta. It now occurs in Ogun, Ondo, Lagos and other areas where we have pipelines. Therefore, the decline will go on and it will definitely affect our economy negatively,” he said.
Similarly, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, said that the union was worried and disturbed over the drop in crude oil production in the country, since the first quarter of 2013. Read more
