MONDAY, 09 AUGUST 2010 00:00 BY OBIORA ADUBA AND SULAIMON SALAU
ÂÂÂ
Nigeria‘s drive to grow daily oil reserve by four million barrels and achieve 40 billion barrels target by the end of 2010 has been hit by major oil firms’ failure to invest in new exploration and exploitation projects.Data from the industry regulators and other stakeholders have shown that the Federal Government missed all the oil reserve growth targets.
ÂÂÂ
The Guardian learnt that the misses were largely affected by the controversies trailing the oil industry legislative reforms, which had made the oil multinationals reconsider their level of investment in the industry.The quarterly report recently released by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) showed that rather than recording growth in oil reserves, Nigeria recorded a decline of 1.6 billion barrels, making it to stand at 31.8 billion barrels during the period.
ÂÂÂ
The Director of the DPR, Andrew Obaje, however, attributed the decrease to the oil companies’ relenting in exploration activities and full field studies but rather concentrating on development, drilling and production.An industry source also told The Guardian that “the government cannot meet the target again this year,†citing disinvestment by the major operators.
ÂÂÂ
Obaje said: “During the period under review, the nation’s oil reserves was at 31.81 billion barrels of oil and condensate reserves was 5.35 billion barrels. Total oil and condensate reserve was 37.16 billion barrels.“Compared to same period last year, the oil reserves dropped by 1.6 billion barrels (4.79 per cent) while condensate reserves increased by 0.152 billion barrels (2.92 per cent). Oil and condensate reserves decreased by 1.44 billion barrels.
ÂÂÂ
“As at June 2010, the oil reserves depletion rate was 2.81 per cent based on estimated yearly production volume of 894.79 mmbbls and the remaining oil reserves indicate a life index of 35.55 years.“There is a serious focus now that straddled fields be utilised rather than being independently developed so as to ensure proper reservoir development and resources management,†he said.
ÂÂÂ
Speaking on the development at the weekend, the National Chairman of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Anthony Abolarin said: “Obviously, we are not meeting our target of 40 billion barrels reserve this year. It is too late to achieve that. But note that when we say we are targeting something, it does not mean that we have attained that target. It only means that we have an ambition or desire to get to that level.“From the professional angle, really, it is a very critical situation, , I can target to jump the roof of this house, but I may end up jumping the table. So, it is good to aim higher, but whatever, you might have achieved is obviously better than aiming lower.â€ÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂ
Abolarin said there might have been an error in calculation from the government’s perspective: “I hope we will get it clearly as time goes on, but what is important now is the production level and not the reserve level. The reserves are more important for strategic planning at different levels especially at government level.
ÂÂÂ
“But we are now happy that production has taken off and we can comfortably rise to about two million barrels per day. I hope with time and with further exploration, we should be able to proceed towards the target of four million barrels per day of production. I will say soon because the initial date was 2010, in a year we are moving towards the end.
ÂÂÂ
“We have fallen behind by the various events that we have experienced but that also comes back to show that no matter how much we plan, factors that involve individuals or groups of Nigerians can affect our production level. Let us not be pessimistic, but think about how to move forward,†he said.The SPE chief said there are two angles to meeting the targets: the critical issue is finance and the investment time. “The nation must be ready to invest to the level of achieving whatever it aims to achieve.  ÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂ
Are we ready or capable of investing financially? Second is the investment of time. The amount of time that we plan to invest must be adequate to the production target or reserve. If the time is too short, you will not achieve it, even if you mobilise all available resources.“It is not all the desires that are attainable. This time, we have desired to have four million barrels of production and 40 billion barrels reserve by 2010, but we have not made it. We will sit again and re-strategise,†Abolarin said.
ÂÂÂ
Source:Guardian
ÂÂÂ