Photo: Leadership

Oil refinery

Nigeria's oil production has remained stagnant in the last 40 years, a report from ExxonMobil Corporation has said.

The multinational oil company also said the country's new deepwater production has not buoyed its oil production during the period under review.

General Manager, Operations Technical Geoscience, Mobil Producing Nigeria Andrew Ejayeriese said this during the presentation of Mobil's Energy Outlook.

He said in the mid 1970's, Nigeria's oil production reached a high of 2.2 million barrels per day, mainly from onshore and shallow water fields.

He attributed the nation's stagnant oil production to delays in project approvals, restrictions in NNPC funding and tortuous contract award process which have slowed overall reserve replacement and put pressure on long-term production and growth.

He said: "We all know the story of the impact of militancy and oil bunkering/illegal refinery on the maintenance and growth of Joint Ventures volumes."

He implored the government to match hydrocarbon resources with clear regulatory and fiscal terms and provide a safe and secure operating environment.

He also said Nigeria must focus on creating a clear policy and fiscal incentives to drive development of both domestic and export markets in gas production.

He said: "Nigeria has a good vision of where it wants to be. But the effective execution of the vision has not occurred due to inconsistent and conflicting plans, shortage of funding and incentives, slow development of domestic market and significant competition for export market share, with new entrants and new resources such as the North America Shale gas boom."

Efforts to get reaction from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation were not successful as the acting spokesperson of NNPC Ms Tumini Green did not pick her calls. She also did not reply to a text message sent to her mobile phone.