Fresh insights have emerged on the readiness of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to grow its equity production from the current 180,000 barrels per day to 300,000 bpd by 2018.
According to the plan, NPDC hopes to hit 400,000 bpd and 500,000 bpd production, respectively by 2019 and 2020.
Managing Director of the company, Mr. Yusuf Matashi in an interview said the planned increase in the company’s equity production was due to the ongoing transformation in NNPC.
He said having attained the position as fifth largest Exploration and Production Oil Producer in Nigeria; the NPDC was positioned to efficiently manage its portfolios to achieve the new target.
In his submission, Matashi noted that “The NPDC has 55 per cent equity in nine blocks of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 40, 41, 42 and 55; Non-equity operations in three blocks of selected NNPC Joint Venture fields; 60 per cent participatory interest in four blocks of OMLs 60, 61, 62 and 63 and 100 per cent ownership of seven blocks of OMLs 11, 13, 64, 65, 66, 111 and 119. In a nutshell, the Company is involved in 29 concessions which comprises 22 OMLs and seven Oil Prospecting leases,” Mr. Matashi submitted”.
NPDC boss added that the company had varied interests in seven deep-water concessions and successfully executed a Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) with communities in OMLs 30 and 34, adding that NPDC achieved a major feat by successfully drilling and completing five horizontal wells in nine months in OML 26, leading to production of an additional 7, 000 bpd.
Before now, the company had successfully turnaround OML 40 asset from 0 bpd to 12, 000 bpd, which underlined the company’s rising profile as the seventh largest owner and operator of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) in Nigeria, with FPSO Mystra having 1.03 million of crude productivity.
He revealed further that some intervention activities carried out recently led to the peak production of approximately 10,000 bpd in OML 65 in June, 2017, and stressed that the NPDC was the biggest and largest gas producer in the country and was also the highest supplier of gas to the domestic market.
Matashi said “NPDC aggressive gas pursuit since 2009 has also raised the company’s profile as the highest single supplier of gas to the domestic market with an average of 700 million standard cubic feet per day. The Utorogu Non-Associated Gas 11 plant was also completed recently adding 150 mmscfd; the Oredo 2 gas plant also adds 100 mmscfd and the successful re-entry of Odidi which led to an addition of 40 mmscfd of gas indeed represents a major achievement for the company and a step forward to achieving NPDC’s aspiration to become a serious global player in the E & P industry”.
