By Patrick Andrew Abuja
Nigeria’s crude oil reserves are likely to hit the 40 billion barrels by the year 2020 following a tripartite agreement in Abuja, between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and two other fi rms, yesterday. Th e agreement which was signed between the NNPC/FIRST Exploration & Production Joint Venture and Schlumberger is for the development of the Anyalu and Madu fi elds in the Niger Delta under Oil Mining Licence, OML 83 and OML 85, off shore Nigeria. Under the agreement, Schlumberger would provide the over $700 million development cost of the Anyala and Madu fi elds which would generate 193 million barrels of crude oil into the current reserves of 37.2billion barrels and an additional 800 billion cubic feet of gas into the nation’s proven gas reserves which currently stand at 197 Trillion Cubic feet of gas.
In terms of daily production, the fi elds will yield 50, 000 barrels of crude oil per day and 120 million standard cubic feet of gas per day by early 2019. Speaking at the signing ceremony, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the innovative approach to funding JV operations in response to the challenging economic environment was novel and aligned wholly with the government’s aspiration to increase crude oil and gas production, reserves growth and monetization of the nation’s enormous gas resources. He said the projected increase in production of gas would come in handy as the Corporation strived to sustain the supply of gas to the existing power plants as well as the planned power projects billed to come on board within the period FIRST E&P, Managing Director and CEO, Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, who signed for his fi rm, said that the partnership between the NNPC/FIRST E&P JV and Schlumberger would infuse a novel asset development model which combines FIRST E&P’s local knowledge and market position as an indigenous operating company, with Schlumberger’s fi nancing and broad technical capabilities
