Lokpobiri says delayed Seplat-ExxonMobil deal cost Nigeria $34bn in oil output decline

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has revealed that Nigeria lost $34 billion in the last two and a half years due to the fall in production from the assets being divested by ExxonMobil to Seplat Energy, a transaction still awaiting approval by the federal government. Lokpobiri disclosed in Lagos, during his keynote speech at the Second Quarter Dinner of the Petroleum Club, with the theme, “Funding Our Way out of the Crisis: Looking up to the Oil and Gas Sector.” The minister explained that output from the assets declined from 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the current 120,000bpd, leaving a shortfall of 480,000bpd, which he said amounted to a $34 billion loss at a conservative $80 per barrel, in the last two and a half years. Lokpobiri insisted that Nigeria could ramp up oil production to five million barrels per day within the next 12 to 18 months. He said the lack of required investment in the Nigerian oil and gas industry over the past 10 years contributed to the decline in production and stressed that it was one of the major challenges he faced on assumption of office. Lokpobiri explained that Nigeria was producing about 600,000bpd from the ExxonMobil assets that were now under divestment, pointing out that today, the production from the asset has dropped to about 120,000bpd. He stated that if the problem hindering the divestment process was resolved and minimal investment was made in the asset, the country would be able to restore the production to 600,000bpd with the addition of 480,000bpd.