Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has said that the federal government is working to ensure that all local and international oil companies return to full capacity production of crude oil in the country.
The minister said the oil majors in the country drastically cut down on crude oil production due to the massive vandalisation of pipelines and theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta region by criminal elements, a statement signed by the senior adviser of Media and Communications to the minister, Horatius Egua, indicated.
The decisions of the oil companies have affected the volume of daily crude productions and which has unfortunately led to revenue loss for the country.
In the last few months, the improved security surveillance along the major crude oil has however helped to improve crude oil productions from a paltry 900,000 barrels per day to between 1.4 and 1.6 million barrels per day.
Speaking while receiving the new managing director of Eni SpA, in his office, on Monday in Abuja, Sylva again restated the federal government’s readiness to continue to improve security along the tracks of the major crude oil pipelines and block every leakage through which crude oil are stolen by oil thieves and pipeline vandals.
“I am happy to hear from you (Eni) that you have increased your crude oil production to 15,000 barrels per day as a result of the efforts of the government in protecting the pipelines in the region. I assure you that this trend will continue,” the minister said.
Sylva added that the desire of the federal government is to “see all the oil majors in the country return to their full production capacity to boost revenue for the government” and also to help the country meets its organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) obligations.
“We will continue to work to bring stability and build confidence for everyone to return to the field to produce their maximum capacity,” the minister added.
By this efforts, the federal government is targeting full production capacity of up to three million daily crude oil production.
Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Region of Eni SpA Mr Mario Bello, in his brief remarks during the visit said that the renewed confidence in the federal government’s efforts in restoring sanity along the major crude oil pipelines in the Niger Delta has enabled the company increase crude oil production from a near zero production level to about 15,000 barrels per day in the last one month.
“We are happy that the security situation is improving and we will be willing to be back fully,” Bello said adding that as at last month, the company cried to the minister over the vandalization and thief of their products noting that as today the situation has greatly improved.
“At a point we were producing almost nothing but today, with the improved security situation along the pipelines, we are able to produce and export about 15,000 barrels of crude oil and if this trend continues, we will be able to reach our 30,000 barrels crude oil production,” he told Sylva during the visit.
Bello said with the renewed confidence the company has in the security of the crude oil pipelines, Eni was willing to reopen its planned investments in the gas and power sector nothing that the company was happy with the support from the government in terms of business cooperation.
On the restructuring of the Kano, Benin, Kaduna, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt DisCos, Council was informed that the notifications of change of directors for all the DisCos had been filed at the Corporate Affairs Commission, while the BPE has issued guidelines to the banks/lenders for the sale of their 60 per cent shares in the assets.
Further updates were received on the sale of five NIPP Power Plants, particularly the engagements with the Nigerian Governors Forum on the NIPP transaction, and the resolution by the governors to constitute a committee to review the transaction and revert to the Bureau.
The Council expressed satisfaction with the BPE’s handling of the engagements with the governors on the sale of the NIPP and the federal government’s 40 per cent interest in the Aba Ring-Fenced area.
In attendance at the meeting were council members including Ministers of Power, Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu; Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed; the Director-General of the BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh; representatives of Federal Ministry of Justice, heads of relevant MDAs and other senior government officials.
Also on Friday, the VP received on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa, the management of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) led by its Chairman, Mohammed Bello Shehu.
In his remarks, Shehu appealed to the VP to support the commission’s drive to digitize its operations, particularly the efficient allocation and disbursement of revenues to the 3 tiers of government in accordance with the Act setting up the commission.
The chairman noted that paucity of funds was affecting the commission’s oversight on revenue generating government agencies and general migration from manual to digital operations, while he also outlined the implications of the development on the revenues of the federation and the economy.
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