THE Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Thursday, disclosed that Nigeria’s crude oil reserves dropped to 36,910 million barrels in 2020, from 37,453 million barrels in 2016, indicating a decrease of 1.4 per cent or 543 million barrels in five years, IgbereTV reports.
In its just-released 2021 Annual Statistical Bulletin, OPEC disclosed that, the nation’s oil reserves hovered at 37,453 million barrels in 2017, before sliding to 36,972 million barrels in 2018 and 36,890 million barrels in 2019.
The organization further noted the low deployment of rigs for exploration, which stood at 49 in 2020, due mainly to limited investment in the nation’s oil and gas industry.
However, it stated that the number of oil wells completed increased slightly to 81 in 2020, from 76 in 2016, adding that 76, 81 and 100 oil wells were completed in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Also, OPEC maintained that the average daily oil production in 2020 stood at 1.486 million barrels, while the cumulative production in the same year was 34.42 billion barrels.
In any case, the situation has not improved significantly in 2021 as the rig count; fell by 49.5 per cent to 53 in the first eight months of 2021, from 105, recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.
The rig count, a major index for measuring the level of activities in the upstream oil sector, was obtained from the reports of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
The reports severally attributed the development to the Coronavirus pandemic and relatively low crude oil prices as major factors.
It was also partly attributed to the prolonged delay associated with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, into law.
However, the rig count of other African oil and gas producing countries, especially Algeria also dropped to 191 in 2021, from 271 recorded in 2020, while the rig count of Libya and Angola rose to 32 and 114, from 26 and 101 respectively, during the period.
Commenting on the development, the National President, Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, OGSPAN, Mr. Colman Obasi, said: “The dwindling rig count clearly showed that the nation is not investing enough in the upstream sector. It also illustrated that we might not likely meet set targets, especially the attainment of 40 billion barrels reserves target by 2025
