By CARMEN GENTILE
UPI Energy Correspondent
Nigeria's oil reserves will be depleted in 43 years, the shortest reserve life of any OPEC nation, according to a recent report.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency noted in its latest findings that Africa's largest oil producer has the shortest shelf life for its reserves among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries whose reserve totals were calculated in the study.

Oil reserve estimates were not presented for Algeria, Angola and Ecuador, which rejoined OPEC late last year.

The lifespan of Nigeria's oil industry was calculated based on an estimated reserve of 36.2 billion barrels and a current output of about 2 million barrels per day. Its reserves are considered small compared to OPEC's top producers. Saudi Arabia has an estimated reserve of 259 billion barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration, while Iraq is said to have 115 billion barrels of oil.

Nigeria's reserves could, however, realize their full potential in offshore deepwater drilling, said analysts at the EIA, the data arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Officials in Abuja and foreign oil firms are hoping to increase Nigeria's oil output and reserve total considerably in the coming years with the advent of increased drilling some 20-30 miles from the oil-rich, albeit violence-plagued, Niger Delta.

"That number (barrels per day produced) is likely to increase as the deepwater reserves exploration increases," noted Elias Johnson, an EIA energy analyst for Africa.

Were Nigeria to reach its full potential for exploration and increase its production, the lifespan of the reserve will likely remain the same, Johnson said.

Nigeria's offshore potential has been much heralded in recent years, particularly among foreign oil companies that have been repeatedly targeted by the delta's militant groups since hostilities against the industry began increasing around the end of 2005 with the emergence of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

Those platforms more than 20 miles offshore are considered by many to be safe from militant attacks, which have left dozens dead in recent years.

Considered the delta's largest militant group, MEND and other armed forces express their anger toward the oil and gas industry, as well as the Nigerian government, by attacking petroleum stations and kidnapping oil workers.

Despite generating an estimated $300 billion in oil revenue since the 1970s, most Nigerians remain in poverty, a condition that has given rise to the violence that has affected production in Nigeria -- for both state and foreign oil firms.

Militant groups assert that residents of the Niger Delta should receive a greater portion of the oil wealth reaped by the government and foreign companies. Attacks have taken a heavy toll on production, according to Nigerian energy officials, who contend oil production is down 20 percent to 2 million barrels per day.

Nigeria's largest foreign oil producer, Royal Dutch Shell, has been hampered repeatedly by attacks on its installations. In January Shell shut down operations at its Forcados terminal following pipeline attacks that threw its 100,000 bpd production offline.

The terminal had already been shut down once before because of violence and reopened in October 2007 after more than a year of halted production. Since its reopening, the facility, which can produce some 450,000 barrels per day, had been operating at a fraction of its capacity.

But on a positive note, officials earlier this week announced that force majeure of the Forcados exports would be lifted as the repairs to the attacked pipeline were completed.

http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Energy/Analysis/2008/03/06/analysis_nigeria_oil_sees_end_in_43_years/5114/

time to diversify the economy before we end up like ethiopia

Hurray! Hurray !! Hurray!!! 43 more years to the end Kidnapping and Niger Delta Terrorism

No, 43 more years to the Hausa/Fulani hegemony . . .

Offshore drilling? Why are they behaving as if oil is the only natural resource we have in Nigeria?

stillwater:

Offshore drilling? Why are they behaving as if oil is the only natural resource we have in Nigeria?

Since the discovery of oil in the country it has practically been the "only" natural resource we have in Nigeria as in, the focus has been placed primarily on that. I mean if you consider what the average Nigerian knows of the country, most know we have oil but not many know that we have iron, aluminum and other resources that we also mine. I can not wait for the oil to disappear cause I so want to see people go back to farming and other things.

After the oil is gone, will you guys come and please help us clean Niger Delta rivers before we finally break up into our constituent nations?

@poster:
The same statement was made 28 years ago.

Big B1:

@poster:
The same statement was made 28 years ago.

So, (43-28 )= 15 years to go for all this problem to stop.


Thank GOD

I do NOT!!! care!

At least i can stand on my feet to say that the Governments have not in anyway contributed positively to my well being. . .
what a nation. . . . .

The resources of Nature are in "excess" abundance when that in Rivers, Beylsea,Bonny, Akwa ibom etc are exhusted (and Man still have need of Oil) another well will be discovered in Zamfara, Kogi, Taraba and their likes. Man shall never lack that which sustains his life, if this simple natural rule is voided then simple existence would stop and that alone makes a mockry of the Creator, the process and the reason of creation.

Man is a user of "things" and therefore he can't be without THEM.

Good Riddance To Bad Rubbish



, but don't forget we have natural gas that is more than oil ooooooooooooooooo,


in short not in this life time or the next, 9ja is doomed

No, it's not doomed

i've started thinking it is



P.s i'm a physicist,stillwater, and i think 5-7 atomic bombs should do it

This isn't news.

Oil is a finite resource, the Global reserves are been exhausted, yes Oil is diminishing, but before then the question is whether Nigeria will take advantage of the Oil boom and transform it's economy.

Non Oil resources are now accounting for a larger share of the economy, so this isn't news.

The Non Oil resources in Nigeria are vast, so I doubt Oil will be missed.

Oil is not a curse and it will never be a curse. The problem with this nation is not Oil and it never has been. If things do not change in society then Oil will be preceded by a new resource to be misappropriated by the Government.


So Please don't give me this unintelligent remarks about good riddance or it will translate to a new dawn in leadership or in the make up of the country.

Oil is nothing more than it is, google it.

Can it be "gone" any sooner? May be through some cataclysmic event. I'm working my prayers on it.

i'm so with you black mamba

I was hoping it would be gone in 5 yrs. . .

wow! it means Biafra will become a reality in 43 years.
when the oil is gone, we will know the real businessmen in nigeria.
pls tell them to prolong the life span of our oil so that money laundary and looting of public funds will continue.
the end of oil in nigeria will end many things and many things will begin or ressuret.
the real armed robbers will re-surface.
there will be free and fair elections in nigeria as people will no longer see election as a do or die affairs.
there will be no more efcc.
young men and women will quit politics.

Nigeria is such a paradox and we have no one but our selves to blame. How can we be so rich yet so poor? Leadership must really hate the people, that is the only explanation. I mean, they must really despise the people. In a normal and sensible disposition, resources like ours are celebrated and are used to enrich the country and the people. A large bitumen deposit was not too long ago discovered in the country, and i am sure if there is a new element discovered it would be found in Nigeria, AND STILL? This is really disheartening. When is Nigeria going to wake up?  We really need to open our eyes and get angry about things if not thesame people who have lead the country for the past 40 or so years will continue to walk over the people. We should not be relying on just one resource, wasn't the north supplying the country with food before? So what happened to competition? Governments of regions are not competitive towards progression anymore, they have just become lazy and content with wallowing below medocrity. 10 months of Yar Adua, and what has been done? Have we really taken steps forward or backwards? How abundantly blessed are we with natural resources? And yet people have the audacity to call on God. He keeps on giving us opportunity but we keep on choosing poverty. How painful

good news.

Times without number i've heard this. The question is can it actually be gone?

won't it be nice if we pray that the so called oil finish this year.
the so called oil was given to us as a gift of blessing but the reverse has become the case as the products of our so called oil have become, kidnapping, looting, vandalisation, money laundary, killings at low and high places, electorial malpractices to gain access to the oil.
anyway, let the will of God happen.