"For the past few years, Nigeria hasn't actually done much on exploration and that is why our reserves are not growing," Mr Lokpobiri said.
The Minister for State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, on Thursday, said Nigeria's oil reserves are not growing because of the lack of exploration activities in the country over the years.
Mr Lokpobiri disclosed this when Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State paid a courtesy visit to the minister in his office on Thursday.
"For the past few years, Nigeria hasn't actually done much on exploration and that is why our reserves are not growing," Mr Lokpobiri said.
"Our reserves are about 37 billion barrels. Our reserves should be times two of that. The reason why we haven't been able to update our records is because not much exploration was done in the last 12 years."
He said harnessing the country's oil and gas resources remains the easiest way to come out of economic woes it is currently experiencing.
He added that it has become necessary for Nigeria to increase its oil production as the world moves towards abandonment of fossil fuels.
According to him, the oil production in Nigeria, during the COVID era without new investment, was about 2.4 million barrels per day, noting that there was an urgent need to address concerns currently affecting crude oil production in the country.
"Those wells are still there. So once we address the security concerns, other concerns, the evacuation issues, we can easily go back to 2.4 million barrels per day," he said.
Speaking further, he assured that the government would partner with Kogi State through the frontier exploration fund to carry out exploration activities.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"I want to say that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources will partner with the Kogi State Government so that we can use the Frontier Exploration Fund to do the exploration that is needed and I can assure you that we will not relent until we achieve that. The reason is that the easiest way we can come out of economic problems in the country is through the oil and gas sector and we have it in abundance in Nigeria, including in Kogi.
"What we need to do is to make the right investment so that we can extract this God-given deposit, God-given resources, to the market for sale. The thing about oil and gas is that you must bring it out from the ground to the market before it has value. And for you to bring it out from the ground, you need to make the right investments and the investments are already coming," he said.
In his remarks, Mr Ododo solicited the support of the ministry to harness the potential and natural resources in the state, noting that the resource has remained untapped over the years.
"We need your support. We need your guidance. We want to unlock our potential to make sure the natural gifts gifted us by God Almighty start working for us.We are blessed with a lot of resources and they have not been useful to the state to the fullest," he said.
He lamented that despite the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in Kogi, the state does not enjoy the 13 per cent derivation and other benefits given to other oil-producing states in the country.
He said Kogi is the meeting point between the South and the North of the Ajaokuta/Kaduna/kano (AKK) pipeline which gives it a major advantage for oil and gas investments to thrive.
