DPR: FG to increase oil reserves by 35% to 50 billion barrels

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says the federal government is planning to raise its oil reserves by 35 percent from 36.91 billion barrels to 50 billion barrels in the short to medium term.

Sarki Auwalu, DPR’s director/chief executive, announced this during a workshop with oil and gas industry partners on Monday.

The federal government had targeted 40 billion barrels of oil reserves by 2025, increasing its gas reserve to 210 trillion cubic feet (tcf) by 2025 and 220tcf by 2030.

In June 2021, the federal government also targeted four million barrels of daily crude oil production through the marginal oilfields.

Auwalu announced that DPR plans to establish an annual award, the “Improved oil recovery (IOR)/enhanced oil recovery (EOR) awards”, for companies, projects or individuals who add value to the Nigerian oil sector through enhanced recovery of the country’s oil and gas resources.

He said the award is part of deliberate engagements with industry partners to achieve maximum economic recovery (MER) strategies for Nigeria.

Auwalu also said that the federal government, through the MER strategies, is targeting to increase Nigeria’s proven gas reserves from 206.53tcf to 250tcf.

He noted that asides from companies and individuals, field, research institutions and technologies were eligible for the IOR/EOR awards.

Auwalu added that the industry’s initiative was one of the outcomes of the work of the National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre inaugurated by Muhammadu Buhari in January.

According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) latest monthly market report, Nigeria’s crude oil production alongside that of Iran and Gabon decreased primarily in June 2021.

According to the report, Nigeria produced 1.31 million barrels per day (bpd) in June against the 1.34 million bpd in May based on direct communication.

Similarly, the country produced 1.39 million bpd in June from 1.40 million bpd in the previous month, based on secondary sources.

Nigeria is the largest crude producer in Africa as well as has the 10th largest crude reserves in the world.