Nigeria losing 800,000 barrels of oil daily – Kachikwu

Nigeria’s crude oil production has fallen by almost 40 per cent to 1.4 million barrels per day due to militant attacks on facilities in the Niger Delta.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated this on Monday while addressing members of the House of Representatives, who summoned him to explain why the government increased the pump price of petrol.



His comments came amid a resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta, which produces most of the crude oil that the country relies on for around 70 per cent of national income.

Kachikwu said efforts would be made to engage with people in the area.

Nigerian oil output has been driven lower after attacks by a group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers, which said it wanted a greater share of oil profits and independence for the swampy region where residents have long complained of poverty, Reuters reported.

Attacks in the last few weeks have hit platforms belonging to Chevron and Shell.

“Because of the incessant attacks and disruption of production in the Niger Delta, as I talk to you now, we are now producing about 1.4 million barrels per day. We were at 2.2 million bpd, but we have lost 800,000 barrels,” Kachikwu said.

The 2016 budget assumes oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day at $38 per barrel.

Nigeria has moved in army reinforcements to hunt the militants but British Foreign Minister, Philip Hammond, said on Saturday that the government needed to deal with the root causes of the conflict, because a military confrontation could end in “disaster”.

Kachikwu echoed these sentiments when he told the lawmakers that experience had shown that force alone tends not to solve problems.

“There are going to be robust engagements on what could have happened to the contract or relationship that used to exist between the Niger Delta and the Nigerian Police that has suddenly resorted to sabotage,” the minister said.

President Muhammadu Buhari has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009 but upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts.

“We are trying to look at the amnesty and what has happened. Policing is key, security is key and throwing economic palliative to those sectors are also key,” added Kachikwu.