by Azeez Adeniyi
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu has disclosed that crude oil production in the country has risen to two million barrels per day.
Kachikwu made the disclosure when he met with the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) on Wednesday to defend the 2017 budget estimates of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
The minister said the ingoing negotiations with militants in the Niger Delta were proving to be effective.
He also said repair on the Forcados oil terminal are almost completed.
“In some weeks, we will be able to progress to 2.2 million bpd, which is the target of the (2017) budget,” he added.
Kachikwu said salaries of workers will N61bn out of N69bn allocated to the ministry in the 2017 budget, while capital projects will cost N7bn.
On the government’s plan to build modular refineries in the Niger Delta, he said the idea will stop the operation of illegal refineries.
“We are looking at 2,000 to 5,000 barrels per day to suck in individuals who engage in illegal refining of products,” he said.
Since Nigeria is now digging at least 2m barrels of crude oil per day. We need to see change in our Electricity system of Nigeria.