Nigeria is targeting oil development projects worth more than $50 billion in the next five years, the Nigeria Content Development and Oversight Board (NCDMB) said, expanding a key contributor to the economy more great of africa
The projects were outlined at the two-day Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunities Fair (NOGOF) which concluded on Friday with the participation of international and local companies, including Shell PLC and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., said the ‘organizer NCDMB in a press release.
“Some of the opportunities come from indigenous players, some from NNPC Ltd and international oil companies. If you put them together, in the next five years it would be over $50 billion that would be invested in the Nigerian oil and gas industry” , NCDMB Executive Secretary Simbi Kesiye Wabote told the meeting, as quoted in the statement.
One of the projects is the expansion of its Bonga oil field by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co. The northwestern section of the field, which is already operational, can produce around 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to the British energy giant.
“Bonga Southwest, which Shell talked about, is almost $7 billion to $8 billion,” Wabote said. “Shell also talked about Bonga North, which could make final investment decisions (FIDs) early next year and is almost $3 billion.”
He acknowledged that oil development in the West African country has been hampered by financial, security and regulatory hurdles.
Of the projects proposed in previous NOGOFs, most “have come to fruition,” but “others are challenged by security issues, Final Investment Decision (FID) challenges, bankability and regulatory requirements and approvals,” Wabote said .
“We share Ikike and today it is making almost 50,000 barrels per day. We shared Nigeria LNG Train 7 almost six years ago and today it is at full steam, with the hope of completion in 2026. We have shared the upstream opportunities that will fuel the Train 7, HI, HA and Obeta projects,” he added .
The NCDMB official called for the removal of “policy inconsistencies” and urged relevant agencies to pass supplementary laws to the Petroleum Industry Act “to give investors the necessary confidence to move forward,” he said the press release.
Wabote also called on the government to address the “wanted theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta” to “enable the production of hydrocarbons at reasonable costs and profitability”, the statement added.
“He lamented that most indigenous operators have not been able to evacuate their crude through pipelines for over a year and are now forced to explore alternative options at high costs.”
Nigeria lost more than 505 million barrels of crude oil and 4.2 billion liters of petroleum products, or $40.06 billion and $1.84 billion respectively, between 2009 and 2018, according to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative . “Cumulatively, total crude oil and product losses during the period amount to $41.9 billion. This is the size of all of Nigeria’s foreign reserves,” he said in a report on November 5, 2019.
Oil is a key component of Nigeria’s economy. In the latest data from the Office of National Statistics, released on February 22, oil and natural gas accounted for 4.34 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in the last quarter of 2022, making d ‘this sector is the fifth contributor to the economy behind crop production. trade, telecommunications and information, and real estate.
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