If new crude oil discoveries are not made to add to Nigeria’s current reserves of 36.971 billion barrels (bbls), the country will run out of oil in about 52 years, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has disclosed.
The DPR also explained that the current reserves depletion rate of Nigeria’s oil reserves is 1.93 per cent, adding that on the average, Nigeria produced 1.973,995 barrels of oil per day (bpd) as at the end of June 2018.
These details are contained in a report of the achievements of agencies under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in the last the three years, which newsmen obtained in Abuja Wednesday.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had recently launched the report.
According to the DPR, Nigeria’s gas reserves as at January 1, 2018 was 199.09 trillion cubic feet (tcf) which it said, represented an increase by 0.18 per cent over January 1, 2017.
“The nation’s oil and condensate reserves as at January 2018 stood at 36.971 billion barrels with a depletion rate of 1.93 per cent and a life index of 51.79 years,” said DPR in the report.
It added: “Average daily oil and condensate production stands at 1.973.995bopd as at end of June 2018. The national gas reserves status as at January 1, 2018 is 199.09TCF representing an increase of 0.18 per cent over January 1, 2017 position,” the report said.
The DPR stated that the increase in gas reserves was made possible by the discovery of four new fields within the year under consideration, and from where 43 billion standard cubic feet (bscf) of associated gas and 37.43bscf of non-associated gas were added to the reserves.
In 2017, Pan-African bank, Ecobank, disclosed that data obtained from the DPR showed that Nigeria had been suffering from stagnant oil reserves since 1980, and that its 38bbls reserves at that time would last her about 55 years.
The DPR, however explained in its latest report that it approved in 2018, 37 well-drilling proposals and seven new field development plans which could bring an estimated oil production of 189,850bd when fully commissioned.
It also said that in 2017, it approved 14 well-drilling proposals and 16 new fields’ development plans which will increase oil production by 560,463bd when fully commissioned.
To grow the country’s oil reserves, DPR stated that in 2019, it would engage oil exploration and production companies in Nigeria on maturation of proved plus probable plus possible (P3) resources and identified drillable prospects.
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