We don’t know how much crude oil Nigeria produces – NEITI
THE Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonna Orji has disclosed that no Nigerian knows the exact volume of crude oil produced in Nigeria.
Dr. Orji explained that the absence of meters at wellheads and the lack of capacity to monitor deep offshore operations make it impossible to know the nation’s output.
Dr. Orji, who disclosed this when he visited the Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, Dr. Mansur Liman in Abuja, said: “The only law that governs the oil and gas industry in Nigeria currently is the Petroleum Act of 1969. And if you use this law in computations of taxes and royalties based on very old rate, Nigeria losses a lot of revenue,”
He said: “We do not have the capacity to go deep shores to know how much we are producing. As we speak, it is very difficult for any Nigerian to ascertain how much actually we are producing. This is one of the challenges that NEITI is dealing with because if you do not know how much you are producing how would you know how much you are expected to earn.
“Because the companies the companies that go deep shore that is involved on offshore exploration none of them are indigenous Nigerian companies and they cannot really protect the interest of the country as much as Nigerians can.
“But we must concede to those companies, they are doing a great job here because without them there will be no oil industry.”
Responding, Dr. Liman, assured the NEITI boss of the support of the Corporation.
