Insecurity In Niger Delta Poses Challenges Crude Oil Production- NNPCL

Crude oil production in the oil-rich Niger Delta region has continued to witness challenges due to insecurity with a negative impact on overall outputs.

This is according to Mr. Mele Kyari Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited ,NNPCL while speaking at the Nigerian Oil & Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) 2023 at the NCDMB Conference Center in Yenagoa, the capital city of Bayelsa State.

He said though a tough one but the NNPCL inconjunction with government security agencies has risen to task and efforts are yielding some positive outcomes.

His words: “The security in the Niger Delta is a challenge. We are rising to the challenges with our partners with government security agencies. It is paying off . We have away from production down to close to 1.1 million barrels. In march we are able to hit 1.6-7 barrel’s million with some operational issues last week . We know that we will achieve our objectives of being fully operational .”

Speaking earlier, Kesiye Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), said Brass Island Shipyard Front-End Design has commenced.

He said when completed the shipyard will handle repair and maintenance requirements of marine vessels of various sizes including container ships, oil tankers, and LNG carriers.

He hinted that the Shipyard project entails the development of a 310m graving dock, and 650m fitting out quay for LNG carriers, oil tankers, and cargo ships of up to 150,000DWT (deadweight tonnage).

According to him, in a year, the shipyard will enable in-country maintenance and repairs of seven Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) vessels, 21 container ships, 8 jack-ups and 30 other vessels.

“The shipyard will further boost our national shipbuilding, maintenance, and servicing capacity thereby earning the much-needed revenue and foreign exchange for Nigeria.

“As the Lekki Deep Seaport becomes operational in addition to existing ports, Nigeria will witness more vessels coming into the nation and a facility like the Brass Island Shipyard will create a situation where the LNG tankers and other vessels can carry out maintenance and repairs here in Nigeria,” he said.

Wabote equally hinted that the upcoming commissioning of the Dangote Refinery, the Presidential Power Initiative with Siemens and the commencement of other projects are solutions to tackling the nation’s energy problem.

The NCDMB helmsman posited that the board anticipates a lot of activities in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and LNG utilization in-country.

“The Shell HA Gas project and the Bonga Main Life Extension project have since commenced.

“Similarly, the NAOC Brass Tank 7 Refurbishment project and the Brass Deluge system upgrade projects have also commenced and are currently both ongoing while the TotalEnergies IKIKE development project has been completed.

“In the midstream segment, the NLNG Train 7 project, as most of us are aware, is currently ongoing as well as the AKK Pipeline project.

“We are happy with these success stories of how projects materialized from opportunities that were showcased at the NOGOF events.”

While recalling that NCDMB is the “Number 1 MDA in the Ease of Doing Business,” Wabote assured that the board will continue to support ongoing projects and new opportunities that are in line with its service level agreement.