The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has insisted there is no going back in its resolve to bring Nigeria’s oil reserve to 40 billion barrels (bbl) by 2020.
Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, stated this at the just concluded Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, in Houston, Texas.
According to Baru, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Saidu Mohammed, towards achieving the goal, our plan is to add about one billion barrels of oil yearly to the reserve.
Nigeria presently has oil reserve base of 37 billion barrels.
His words, “Within the upstream segment, our plan is to increase our oil reserve base to 40 billion barrels reserve by 2020 and, therefore, by implication, at least one billion barrels should be added year-on-year till 2020.
Baru gave assurance that the nation’s four refineries will be rehabilitated and upgraded to 700,000 barrels per day capacity at the cost of $6 billion.
“With respect to our refineries, our plan is to rehabilitate, and revamp our existing four (4) refineries.
“We invite you to participate in this process.
“On successful rehabilitation and revamp, our plan is to upgrade the combined nameplate capacity from 445,000 barrels per day to 700,000 barrels a day within the next few years.
“We would require investments of between $5 billion to $6 billion.
“We are also mindful of the need to construct new refineries and we encourage investors in this area.
“The big picture is to transit from a net crude oil exporter to a net petroleum product exporter as more value and opportunities abound in the latter,” Baru added.
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