‘Femi Asu

The country and some oil companies lost at least N38.6bn in one month as gas production from joint venture assets and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company dropped by 40.9 billion standard cubic feet in July.

The loss was as a result of production disruptions occasioned by the recent upsurge in militant attacks in the Niger Delta, mostly targeted at onshore and shallow water assets.

The latest monthly report from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation showed that 139.58 billion scf and 17.70 billion scf were produced from JV assets and NPDC assets, respectively in July, down from 173.8 billion scf and 24.4 billion scf in January.

With the price of natural gas put at $2.95 per 1,000 scf as of September 23, the difference of 40.9 billion scf translates to a loss of $120.7m or N36.8bn (using the official exchange rate of N305/dollar).

In February, when the Forcados export terminal was shut down following an attack on a subsea export pipeline, total gas production from JV and NPDC assets saw a decline of 15.85 billion scf over the previous month.

The NPDC’s gas production hit a low of 388.7 million scf per day in April, rising to 571.12 million scf in July.

The nation’s oil and gas production structure is majorly split between JVs onshore and in shallow water with foreign and local companies and Production Sharing Contracts in deep-water offshore.

Production from the PSCs were not affected by the militancy problem as production rose to 1.81 billion scfpd in April from 1.61 billion scfpd in January.

Total of 211.93 billion cubic feet of natural gas were produced in July, translating to an average daily production of 6.84 billion scfpd.

Out of the 205.90 billion scf of gas produced in July 2016, a total of 114.86 billion scf of gas was commercialised, comprising of 20.30 billion scf and 94.56 billion scf for the domestic and export markets, respectively.

The NNPC said the balance of 44.22 per cent was either re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared, adding that the gas flare rate was 10.58 per cent (702.83 mmscfd) in July, compared with average gas flare rate of 8.87 per cent (668.91 mmscfd) for the period of August 2015 to July 2016.

According to the report, from the 654.78 mmscfd of gas supplied to the domestic market in July, about 405.47 mmscfd of gas, representing 61.93 per cent, was used for gas-fired power plants, while the balance of 249.31 mmscfd or 38.07 per cent was supplied to other industries.

The Petroleum Club noted in a statement that the current crisis in the Niger Delta had severely affected the Nigerian upstream oil and gas industry, combined with the global decline in oil prices.

It said, “Fifty to 80 per cent of traditional onshore/shallow water oil production, which yields the highest government revenue per barrel, has been shut down over the past half year. The bulk of the 1.2 to 1.5 million barrels of oil per day produced over this period comes from the deep offshore, which yields significantly less revenue accruing to all levels of government.

“The collateral damage resulting from this oil production disruption is that some 25 to 40 per cent of domestic gas production is also breached, leading to severe reductions in electricity generation and distribution.”

The group noted that the disruption had also led to substantially reduced activity level in the industry.

It added, “This in turn has had a knock-on effect on contractors, service providers, banks and business partners, resulting in severe job losses and an indefinite freeze on further job creation possibilities.

“The current crisis in the Niger Delta must be quickly arrested through a carefully developed combination of engagements, dialogue, disarmament and ultimate restoration of law and order in the region.”

Commenting on the militancy problem in an interview with Bloomberg, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said the government was doing all it could to tackle the issue.

He said, “There is a two-pronged approach, and the first is obviously dialogue, which is uppermost. I think with a realistic, robust and aggressive dialogue, we should be able to find a solution to this. There are some concerns that maybe government isn’t engaging as much as it should, and we are working very hard to cover that gap.

“But the second is that at the end of the day, you have got to have also a robust military response, not in terms of real strike or attacks, but in terms of being able to respond in cases where you have sorts of surprises.”

sarrki:
I can say authoritatively that PDP are Avengers


I wonder what will happen if they come to government

What opposition will bomb then

We have to be patriotic party or no party

Nigeria is greater than both APC & PDP

sarrki:
I can say authoritatively that PDP are Avengers


I wonder what will happen if they come to government

What opposition will bomb then

We have to be patriotic party or no party

Nigeria is greater than both APC & PDP

kingphilip:
were you able to authoritatively say that boko haram was APC?? The fact that some disgruntled individuals took up arms never meant that it's a party sponsored affairs..

But what do I know.. Bring evidences and get them arrested instead of hiding the truth and getting us impoverished due to pipeline vandalization

sarrki:
I can say authoritatively that PDP are Avengers


I wonder what will happen if they come to government

What opposition will bomb then

We have to be patriotic party or no party

Nigeria is greater than both APC & PDP

Yyeske:
Let them bomb more, the FG ain't negotiating with nitwits. Bayelsa can't pay full salary because of fall in revenue so who dey suffer am? Their governor, PMB and LG chairmen are all ok. Bomb more please. Blame PMB tomorrow for half salaries

Izonpikin:
bayelsa can pay salaries...The governor is just an ugly thief...

If the avengers bomb till we produce 20000 barrels perday you might not have the data to comment here anymore...

So oh yes the bombings will affect you and buhari...

Yyeske:
Let him pay the outstanding salaries and start paying full salaries from end of this month, of course you won't have data or electricity like me. Who loses? Your governor, LG chairmen and PMB are insulated, just you and i go suffer am. No negotiations, let them bomb the 20000 barrels off sef, you go follow suffer am

Izonpikin:
we must negotiate...

Who will feed all states??..

We must negotiate..

sarrki:
I can say authoritatively that PDP are Avengers


I wonder what will happen if they come to government

What opposition will bomb then

We have to be patriotic party or no party

Nigeria is greater than both APC & PDP

Izonpikin:
if gej remained at least there wouldn't have been any militancy resurfacing...

Let us all enjoy buharis administration. ..

Anything we see because of his actions and inactions we take am like that...

Proudlyngwa:
Has it stopped Buhari from travelling, no
Has it stopped Aso rock from having light, no
Has it reduced the benefits of any Govenor, no
Has it made oil company workers, most of whom are of southern extraction retrenched.yes.
Has it affected the locals and the localities more than the nations .yes
Izonpikin deal with it, this guys are criminals like their southern governors, with no thought of the masses in their minds.Let them be offers packages too good to refuse and see what will happen.
For how long will we continue worshiping criminality in this country and keep on going to church on Sundays.
May the Good Lord ,open our eyes to that which is right.

kropotkin2:
GEJ is history but his boys in the creeks aint. The crocodile needs to continue to smile

Izonpikin:
but a consistent attack would drive the country down to a point where buhari would lose his next elections...salaries of government officials would not be paid..suffering would be immense...

The avengers are criminals and so is every other leader that has crippled this nation both past and present...The monster called militancy is a result of the thwarting of structures that fostered peace during the early days of this country...

The country is now messed up..

kingphilip:
When this militancy issue came up I cried to high heavens to federal government from this forum to seek for amiable solution to this crisis because it might put up more problems than we can ever imagine

This guys are human and surely have soft spots appeal to them through this soft spots and get them to stop but of course our government brought out operation crocodile smile and in order to blow hot air

Hot hot can never produce hot no matter how heated the most powerful hot is

Yes it's true nobody wins the federal might but between the period of when the federal might finds her footing to challenge and there, there might several consequences among which is this recession Nigeria is into presently

I don't support the militants either because violence to make an impact doesn't leave a respectable image

Long live the federal Republic of Nigeria
Long live nairaland and nairalanders
Long live kingphilip