Crude Oil Reserves Decline by 481m Barrels in 2018

• Crude Oil Reserves Decline by 481m Barrels in 2018

Nigeria’s crude oil reserves declined from 37.453 billion barrels in 2017 to 36.972 billion in 2018, a report published by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has shown.

The oil cartel, in its 2019 Annual Statistical Bulletin, said Nigeria’s crude oil reserves peaked in 2017 after dropping to 37.062 billion barrels in 2016 during the economic recession and Niger-Delta crisis.

The report noted that Nigeria’s active oil rigs rose from 9 in 2016 to 13 in 2017 and 32 in 2018.

Global oil glut that plunged oil prices weighed on investment in the oil industry. The nation’s rig counts were 46 before dropping amid weak investment in the sector.

But the surge in global oil prices in 2018 following OPEC decision to cut production bolstered investment in the sector slightly.

The number of completed wells rose from 76 in 2017 to 81 in 2018, down from 141 in 2014.

Still, Nigeria has the second largest proven reserves in Africa, accounting for about 2.2 percent of global reserves, according to BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2018.

Prof. Wumi Iledare, the Director, Emerald Energy Institute, University of Port Harcourt, said most oil firms in Nigeria “are mostly developing what they have.”

“They are not looking for new reserves; you can’t sustain the oil and gas industry unless you are investing in new reserves,” he added.

Decrying what he called “unnecessary uncertainty” occasioned by the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, Iledare said, “Investors will be wary and the competition is keen. Twenty years ago, only five countries were producing oil in Africa. Today, nearly every African country along the coast has oil; so there are other places investors can go to.”