The Federal Government of Nigeria is working towards reducing the cost of crude oil production to as low as $10 per barrel in the oil and gas sector, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva revealed.
Sylva, stated this at the Seplat Energy Summit 2020 to mark its 10th Anniversary, he said, government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has rolled out strategies to achieve $10/bbl unit operating cost without jeopardizing growth.
He listed measures to be taken to include renegotiation of contracts to achieve a minimum 30 percent cost reduction, downward renegotiation of all contracts, and other business obligations.
He said the government has embarked on diversification of portfolio to non-oil businesses to cushion the effect of the future crash in crude oil price. “We have declared this year 2020 as “the year of Gas” and have commenced the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP). On Jan. 16, we inaugurated an Inter-agency Committee saddled with the responsibility of coordinating our concerted efforts to ensure the penetration of domestic utilization of LPG, encourage auto Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Compressed Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas for the domestic market. This will drastically reduce the massive outflow of the nation’s foreign exchange currently being expended in the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS),” he said.
