{"id":356558,"date":"2010-02-24T00:07:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T05:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-4805379180754945292"},"modified":"2010-02-24T00:07:38","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T05:07:38","slug":"shell-raises-alarm-over-nigerias-dwindling-oil-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/356558","title":{"rendered":"Shell Raises Alarm Over Nigeria’s Dwindling Oil Production"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
A pipeline explosion in Nigeria on May 15, 2008. This is a repeated occurence in the oil-rich west African nation, which has the continent’s largest population.<\/a>
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Shell raises alarm over Nigeria\u2019s dwindling oil production<\/p>\n

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 01:28
Sola Bello & Ameto Akpe<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s oil and gas production has dropped by over 30 percent since 2005 and may continue to decline in coming years. And concerned by the development, Shell Petroleum Development Company, the dominant oil producer in Nigeria, has sounded the alarm bell that the government may be unable to deliver on the provision of infrastructure to its citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigeria\u2019s share of global oil production is shrinking \u2014 it has fallen over 30 percent since 2005. Investment in the industry has stalled. Final Investment Decisions are not being taken in deepwater and unlike Australia, no new LNG projects have been approved onshore. As a result, other countries are catching up with Nigeria fast\u201d, said Shell\u2019s Ann Pickard.<\/p>\n

Pickard, Shell\u2019s outgoing regional executive vice president, exploration and production for Africa, spoke on \u201cNigeria\u2019s position as a key player in global oil and gas markets,\u201d at the Nigeria Oil and Gas 2010 exhibition in Abuja on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

She blamed the lack luster performance of the Nigerian oil industry on the inability of government to translate all the positives in the industry into coherent policies and actions. She noted that Angola had eclipsed Nigeria in performance over the last decade drilling more exploration wells than Nigeria every year since 1999 except one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2009 alone, the industry invested $8 billion in Angolan deepwater – double the amount invested here. As a result, by 2020 Angolan offshore production is likely to be at least double that of Nigeria. New players are entering the market that will increase competition still further. Nigeria\u2019s position in global oil and gas markets cannot be taken for granted,\u201d Pickard said.<\/p>\n

Taking a swipe at the Petroleum Industry Bill hailed by Nigerian authorities as critical to the success of the nation\u2019s energy reforms, Pickard said: \u201cThe simple, passionately stated priorities of government have been completely lost in a cumbersome document that lacks insight into the very basics of our industry. When I hear comments like \u2018we won\u2019t fiscalise criminality\u2019 and \u2018we are better of leaving oil in the ground,\u2019 I shudder. The PIB threatens to make the present bad situation worse. If passed in the form currently proposed its mistakes will take years to correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

She stressed \u201cNigerians will have to wait longer for the electricity they need to light their homes at night. They will have to wait longer for jobs they need to put food on the family table. The government will have to face difficult choices to balance the budget with less money available for the social services that people need,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Reacting to Shell\u2019s presentation, Livi Ajuonuma, NNPC\u2019 spokesman, said the PIB would make the industry better. \u201cWhat Shell wants us to do is to keep subsidising the production of gas which they end up exporting to their home countries to guarantee their national energy security. As I speak, Nigeria is still subsidising gas for export because the cost of producing it is recovered from oil revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no country in the world that does not get value for its natural resources. But we are getting negative value from gas in Nigeria. The big question is if Nigerians are willing to forego subsidy on petroleum products which they consume, why should Shell or any other international oil company operating in this country expect Nigeria to keep subsidising the gas that they export to other countries? That and many more abnormalities are what the PIB is seeking to correct,\u201d Ajuonuma said.<\/p>\n

Pickard, however, said that despite everything, she remained optimistic because the International Monetary Fund had been commissioned by government to provide an independent objective analysis of the PIB. Pickard said it was not too late for Nigeria to put before the President for assent, a simple, efficient legislative framework that delivers national priorities and heralds a new era for Nigeria.<\/p>\n

In an earlier presentation, Mohammed Barkindo, group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the corporation was working with its joint venture partners to initiate more gas projects that would put out flares in the oil fields.<\/p>\n

Barkindo said government had shifted its tactics of putting out the flares from the oil fields from giving deadlines to facilitating projects that would put out the flares, adding that government was committed to ensuring that the peace in the Niger Delta was sustained through the development of the region.
<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pipeline explosion in Nigeria on May 15, 2008. This is a repeated occurence in the oil-rich west African nation, which has the continent’s largest population.Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos Shell raises alarm over Nigeria\u2019s dwindling oil production Wednesday, 24 February 2010 01:28 Sola Bello & Ameto Akpe Nigeria\u2019s oil and gas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-356558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}