Local producers to ramp up output
Nigeria 
ABUJA, April 4, 2017 – Nigeria’s indigenous producers are targeting a 60% increase in combined production by year-end 2018, local media reported on Tuesday.
Citing comments from close to 20 Nigerian operators, news outlets reported on plans to grow collective domestic output from 313,602 bopd at present to 500,000 bopd over the next 20 months.
According to a statement by Aiteo, with 77,000 bopd one of the largest indigenous producers, Nigeria has the potential to make it into the global top 10 in terms of production.
“We aim to work tirelessly across the upstream market, in both exploration and retrieval, so that our future discoveries add to the known oil reserves of the African continent as a whole and support the oil industry for the long term, while our work to tap into already-known reservoirs of oil increases output in the short term, bolstering Nigeria and other African countries’ positions as world leaders in oil production,” the company said.
However, local executives were also cognisant of the challenges to raising domestic output. According to Felix Amieyeofori, managing director Energia, a company that is working to more than double production from 7,000 bopd to 15,000 bopd, security concerns could stand in the way of further progress.
Amieyeofori also pointed to the ongoing oil price volatility and, domestically, the delay in passing the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill.
According to the Ministry of Petroleum on Tuesday, Nigeria produced 1.676 million bopd in March, 200,000 bopd less than during the month prior. Industry watchers were quick to point to maintenance operations across the Bonga field, where output generally hovers between 150,000 and 200,000 bopd. The field is expected to come back on stream later this month.
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