Nigeria: We’ll Pay More Attention To Gas Processing In 2020-Mele Kyari

Nigeria is set to focus its upstream work towards Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) and natural gas in a bid to comply with the crude production quota obligation set by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+).

This was disclosed by the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Alhaji Mele Kyari at just ended Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.

He mentioned that the quotas apply only to crude oil production and not condensate and the country would focus production to more gas-based reservoirs to grow production while maintaining a balance in the market.

Nigeria was fully compliant with its quota of 1.77 million barrels per day (bpd) for December 2019 and was commended by The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei at the forum.

According to a report by OPEC, Nigeria’s crude oil production dipped by 95,000 bpd from November 2019 to December 2019.

Production stood at 1.570 million bpd in December 2019 which represents a significant decline from the 1.664 million bpd recorded in November 2019. OPEC’s latest oil market report showed that crude oil production averaged 29.44 million bpd in December, lower by 161,000 bpd, month on month in line with production cuts agreed to.

The UAE has reinstated its readiness to invest in Nigeria’s petroleum sector and to facilitate high-level bilateral opportunities to deepen the cooperation between both countries.

This was reiterated by UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Fahad Al Taffaq, on his visit with the minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, in Abuja. Al Taffaq promised to facilitate opportunities that would see to the creation of new projects in the short, medium and long-term for the benefit of the two countries.

Sylva said that 2020 remained an important year for Nigeria as the federal government proposes marginal field and major bid rounds in the sector, and UAE has the financial strength to fully participate in the process.

Marginal field refers to an oil field that may not produce enough net income to make it worth developing at a given time. However; should technical or economic conditions change, such a field may become a commercially viable field.

Source:www.energynewsafrica.com