The Federal Government has projected oil production to hit 1.6 million barrels of oil per day in the first quarter of 2023.
The Finance minister, Zainab Ahmed disclosed this at the World bank’s Nigeria Development Update and Country Economic Memorandum in Abuja.
The finance minister who was represented by the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze also stated that the importation of petroleum products into Nigeria will reduce significantly by 2023 with the commencement of operations of the Dangote Refinery and the completion of rehabilitation work on the Port Harcourt Refinery before the end of next year.
Investors King understands that Dangote Refinery which is being built in the Lekki part of Lagos State is the largest oil refinery in the world in single production. It has a capacity of 600,000 barrels per day.
Similarly, apart from Dangote Refinery and Port Harcourt refinery which is owned by the government, other oil refineries under construction include BUA refinery in Akwa Ibom State with a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day.
The finance minister through her representative also asserted that Nigeria needs to depart from” business as usual “ policies, which cause fiscal pressures such as lower-than-expected revenue and the rising cost of petrol subsidy.
In the same development, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited yesterday reaffirmed that with the return of Forcados and partial restoration of the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), Nigeria’s oil production has increased significantly from about 800,000 barrels per day recorded in September.
Speaking on Arise News Channel, Chief Upstream Investment Officer of the NNPC, Bala Wunti noted that the increase in oil production was the result of the collaboration of the security agencies, regulators, oil-producing communities, and other stakeholders.
He stated that about 70 percent of the illegal oil refineries have been deactivated. He revealed that before now, Nigeria was losing about 21 million barrels per month and up to $1.9 billion every 30 days.
