Nigeria’s oil production has increased to 1.6 million barrels per day, the highest level in months, according to NNPC Limited (NNPCL).
NNPCL’s announced this At the company’s final cut over event on Friday, Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari was excited while announcing that Nigeria is now on track to hit an oil production level of 1.8 million barrels per day over the next two to three months.
The development suggests that the Nigerian government’s crackdown on oil thieves is now yielding some positive results.
This also means that, if NNPCL should sell all 1.6 million barrels daily, at the current price of $83.07 per barrel, the country will be making $132.9 million or N61.13 billion daily.
Kyari said: “I know that it is not far away probably two to three months maximum, but we will be there and that will bring back partners to invest, return the confidence of our investors, and ultimately bring back growth”.
He also expressed optimism that the company will still do well even with the numerous challenges, making reference to its peers in other countries who are able to declare $9 billion in profits.
“We will catch up with them by reducing our costs, growing our production, being prudent in our commercial decisions, being fair to our partners, and in line with the provisions of the PIA, over 90 percent of its differences with partners have been resolved”, he further said.
On subsidy payment, the NNPCL boss said there is a subsidy on the supply of petroleum products particularly Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) into the country.
He explained that as of Tuesday, the landing cost of PMS (also known as fuel) was around N350 to a litre, and it was transferred to customers at N130 per litre, leaving a deficit of N202.
He stated: “By base computation, N202 multiplied by 66.5 million litres multiplied by 30 will give you over N400 billion of subsidy every month; there is a budget provision for it but it is also a drain on our cash flow when we do not get refunds from the ministry of finance.”
