Nigeria May Not Sustain Higher Oil Output

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Nigeria May Not Sustain Higher Oil Output Panafrican News Agency

October 24, 2000

Lagos, Nigeria

A top Nigerian oil official has said that the country may not be able to sustain higher oil production quota to stem rising oil prices, as suggested by Western nations.

Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, managing director of the state- owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, said that while Nigeria could meet any quota approved by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it might not be able to sustain such an increased output.

"If OPEC allocates higher output to us, yes, we will be able to produce it but we might not be able to sustain it," he was quoted as saying in Abuja by the private Guardian newspaper Tuesday.

Gaius-Obaseki said the only way to overcome the problem was to seriously tackle the issue of investment in oil and gas ventures.

In that regard, he added, the 2001 joint venture programme would emphasise assets maintenance, rehabilitation and optimisation of existing facilities to ensure higher yields.

Nigeria, whose current OPEC production quota is about 2.2 million barrels per day, plans to raise crude oil output to three million barrels per day in the next three years, and four million barrels per day in 10 years.

In addition, the country plans to increase its oil reserves from the current level of 25 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels by 2010, according to Vice President Abubakar Atiku.

He said the government would achieve the increase by granting attractive incentives packages for oil producing companies, reducing the petroleum profit tax and a better system of oil-bloc allocation.

"Since coming to office, we...have adopted a transparent and accountable process in developing the sector, particularly in the allocation of oil blocs," Atiku said at a forum on oil and gas exploitation and strategies in West Africa Monday.

"The allocation is now strictly based on open competitive bidding," and "accordingly, we adopted a joint venture arrangement, risk service contracts, or production sharing contracts with oil prospectors, explorers and producers," he added.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200010240298.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 25, 2000


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