The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, has outlined the necessity for Nigeria to ramp up its oil production to nearly 4 million barrels per day (bdp) to address the country’s economic challenges.
The Minister, speaking on a programme on TVC on Sunday, stated that the country needs more than the proposed 2.3 million bpd of oil output given its huge population and economic challenges.
According to Bagudu, Nigeria was producing about 2.3 million bpd of crude oil as far back as 25 years ago when it had a population of just over 100 million people.
He said that, therefore, for the country to maintain such a trajectory in market value, it needs to ramp up production to 4 million bpd of crude oil.
“Not only that we need to be at 2.3 million bdp. We need to be higher because 25 years ago when our population was 119 million, we were doing 2.2 million bdp.
“If one is to extrapolate from that, to maintain the same level of value, we need to produce close to 4 million barrels a day.
“But cumulative years of underinvestment whether it’s security challenge or lack of production has brought us to where we are.
“You now have a president who is saying I don’t care whose fault it is. I’m not going to blame anybody. You’ve given me a mandate to lead us more prosperous future,” Bagudu said.
Nigeria can refine crude oil from other countries
In addition, the Minister said not only should the country focus on making its refineries work, but also position itself to become a net refiner of crude oil from other countries.
He mentioned that there are countries around the world that do not produce crude oil, but have an industry of refineries that help refine other nations’ petroleum products.
According to Bagudu, this is the dream of President Tinubu who believes Nigeria can become a refining destination for investors globally.
“For President Tinubu, it’s not about having the four refineries working. Why is Nigeria not a destination for refiners? Why are we not marketing ourselves so that we can refine all the crude oil that is produced in Africa? Those are the kind of dreams Mr. President supports.
“We’ve seen countries that are not producing oil at all having refineries. That means we should really look at refineries as an industry in itself and do better. All these things are transformative and imaginative ideas and I’m sure by the time the investment communities see the kind of support President Tinubu is providing, we will see more investment in those sectors.
“So yes, we wish our four refineries can work, but more than that, we are building a country whereby other investors will come and set up more refineries,” Bagudu added.
What you should know
Despite being a top producer of crude oil in Africa, Nigeria still fails to meet its OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).
This shortfall has led to revenue losses, as crude oil is the primary source of foreign exchange for the country.
The failure to meet the OPEC quota is primarily due to oil theft, vandalism, and underinvestment in the sector.
In July, the national oil company, NNPC, declared a war on crude oil theft, emphasizing that it has become a matter of national security.
The instability in ramping up production has also contributed to the NNPC’s lack of capacity to supply crude to the Dangote refinery.
As a result, Dangote has been left with no choice but to seek crude oil from other countries, including the United States, Brazil, and other oil-producing African nations.
According to the Minister of Petroleum Resources (State), Heineken Lokpobiri, Nigeria aims to achieve a total output of 2 million bpd before the end of the year.
