NIGERIA: Delegates and petroleum companies at Nigeria Oil and Gas conference exhibition in Abuja call on authorities to tackle security issues that have plagued the country's Niger delta
Record ID:
235495
NIGERIA: Delegates and petroleum companies at Nigeria Oil and Gas conference exhibition in Abuja call on authorities to tackle security issues that have plagued the country's Niger delta
- Title: NIGERIA: Delegates and petroleum companies at Nigeria Oil and Gas conference exhibition in Abuja call on authorities to tackle security issues that have plagued the country's Niger delta
- Date: 23rd February 2012
- Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (FEBRUARY 21, 2012) (REUTERS) VENUE OF THE OIL AND GAS EXHIBITION VARIOUS OF EXHIBITION HALL/GUESTS WALKING AROUND VENUE OF CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) IAN CRAIG, SHELL'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER SAYING: "The greatest challenge however as the minister has already described is the massive organised oil thefts and the criminality and corruption which it fosters. This drives away talent both Nigerians and Internationals, increases cost, reduces revenue to both investors and government and results in major environmental effects. The volume of oil which is stolen is difficult to estimate but it is in the region of 150 thousand barrels. Some countries will aspire to that level of production." GUESTS LISTENING VARIOUS OF OIL DRILLING RIGS DESIGNS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEIZANI ALLISON MADUEKE, NIGERIA'S PETROLEUM RESOURCES MINISTER SAYING: "In the upstream subsector, the nation's actual crude oil and condensing production rose to an average of I am sure you all know, 2.39 million barrels per day and was consistently maintained above budgeted production levels which were 2.3 million barrels per day." GUESTS VISITING STAND AT EXHIBITION MADUEKE BEING BRIEFED OIL DRILLING RIGS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEIZANI ALLISON MADUEKE, NIGERIA'S PETROLEUM RESOURCES MINISTER SAYING: "Well I will expect that the economic and financial crimes commission who is doing a very robust job at the moment, will do an in-depth job of it, will look across the board, both NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) and PPPRA (Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency) and look at all the subsidy issues but will look at other areas as well and report back to us as soon as possible. They've been at it for the past three four weeks since we invited them in and I have no doubt that they will soon come up with an interim report if not the final reporting." EXHIBITION DELEGATES USING COMPUTERS
- Embargoed: 9th March 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Crime,Business,Politics,Energy
- Reuters ID: LVA19RFJ29UHJ54FYHLC1ST5RQFN
- Story Text: Delegates and petroleum companies at the Nigeria Oil and Gas conference exhibition in Abuja have called on authorities to tackle security issues that have plagued the country's Niger delta, with increased thefts of thousands of barrels a day, as well a dearth of funding from the state oil firm which may hamper future exploration of Nigeria's huge oil and gas reserves.
In a speech to an oil and gas conference in the capital Abuja, Ian Craig, Shell's director for sub-Saharan Africa, said challenges in the onshore, shallow water and gas sectors have held back development and have unfortunately led to a reduced appetite for exploration in the oil rich region.
"The greatest challenge however as the minister has already described is the massive organised oil thefts and the criminality and corruption which it fosters. This drives away talent both Nigerians and internationals, increases cost, reduces revenue to both investors and government and results in major environmental effects. The volume of oil which is stolen is difficult to estimate but it is in the region of 150 thousand barrels. Some countries will aspire to that level of production," he said.
Thieves in the oil-rich Niger Delta use explosives or even just hacksaws to cut open pipelines and siphon out oil, a practice known as bunkering that hurts production and is thought to be part of a large international criminal enterprise.
Since an amnesty for militants in 2009, attacks on oil facilities have become much less frequent and less destructive, but bunkering operations remain a costly headache.
Regulatory uncertainty, meanwhile, will be cleared up only by the Petroleum Industry Bill, which aims to change everything from fiscal terms to an overhaul of the state oil company but which has been stuck in the National Assembly for years and shows no sign of being passed soon.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan said he expected a final version to be submitted to parliament by the end of this month, but nothing has surfaced yet.
Diezani Allison-Madueke, Nigeria's petroleum resources Minister said Nigeria currently produces around 2.5 million barrels per day of combined crude oil and it intends to increase its production.
"In the upstream subsector, the nation's actual crude oil and condensing production rose to an average of I am sure you all know, 2.39 million barrels per day and was consistently maintained above budgeted production levels which were 2.3 million barrels per day. In fact today, we are seeing production levels of about 3.5 million barrels," she said.
Nigeria has for decades milked profits from crude exports rather than investing in local downstream infrastructure. Refining capacity has fallen in the last decade, despite several government promises and missed targets.
Most of its motor fuel is imported, despite the fact that its crude is amongst the lightest on the market.
Madueke said she expects an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that she set up last month in the wake of the protests to deliver results soon.
"Well I will expect that the economic and financial crimes commission who is doing a very robust job at the moment, will do an in-depth job of it, will look across the board, both NNPC and PPPRA and look at all the subsidy issues but will look at other areas as well and report back to us as soon as possible. They've been at it for the past three four weeks since we invited them in and I have no doubt that they will soon come up with an interim report if not the final reporting," she said.
Authorities conceded there were major problems in Nigeria's oil industry and that all refineries will be working at 90 percent of their capacity in the next two years after maintenance is completed by the original construction companies.
One major complaint from Nigerians is the high levels of corruption in the oil and petroleum sector, which siphons off billions of dollars in a country of woefully inadequate infrastructure where the majority live on less than 1 dollar per day.
A week of protests over fuel prices put Nigeria's government under more pressure than ever, to make good on long-unfulfilled promises to reform its corrupt energy sector.
Past investigations into oil industry irregularities have produced reports that went nowhere. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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