Federal Government is currently working on the permutation that oil production rate to jump by 22 percent by the year-end to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from current levels.
Minister of State for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said this yesterday on a visit to New Delhi.
He said Nigeria was likely to sign a cash-raising oil deal with India for $15 billion by the end of this year. India’s oil ministry said that Nigeria, whose economy has been hit hard by low oil prices and militancy, had requested an upfront payment.
“Nigeria has a bit of a cash flow problem right now. Our reserves are not as strong as we want them,” Kachikwu told reporters on Monday. “The impact of that is the value of the naira (currency) is coming down. So what we are trying is to leverage on the assets we have to receive immediate cash.”
He said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has agreed to cut world output to rescue prices, has however allowed a production window of 1.8 million bpd to 2.2 million bpd for recession-hit Nigeria.
In his views, apart from the impact of low oil prices, whose sales account for 70 percent of the Nigerian government’s revenue, the country’s energy facilities have been crippled by attacks by militants calling for a greater share of the country’s oil wealth.
It would be recalled that relentless attacks have taken out pipelines in Nigeria, normally Africa’s largest oil exporter, and Qua Iboe, Nigeria’s largest export stream, and Forcados remain under force majeure.
