The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday, disclosed that currently over $48 billion investment opportunities existed in the Nigerian petroleum industry and called on foreign investors to tap into the returns-assuring investment opportunities.
The corporation’s Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, was quoted in a statement by the state-owned oil company as disclosing this while speaking at a Panel Session on the topic ‘Insights on Future Exploration Hotspots: Opportunities for Africa’s Oil & Gas Industry’ with the sub-theme ‘The New Frontier for Africa’s Oil & Gas’ at the 2019 International Petroleum Week conference in London.
The industry expert explained that several new frontiers for exploration opportunities abounded in the country for foreign investors to explore, noting that offshore discoveries in the country has mostly been limited to between 1,000 – 1,500 meters of water depth.
Baru told participants at the forum that the NNPC’s Frontier Exploration Service was currently drilling the Kolmani River-2 Well where desktop estimates indicated that about 400 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas is expected to be encountered, adding that “beyond these water depths, the new frontiers of ultra-deep waters need to be tested. And that is where we need the investors.”
Despite his enthusiasm about the exploratory potential of the nation’s hydro carbon resources industry, the NNPC chief pointed out, however, that unless issues related to legal and regulatory uncertainties, lack of infrastructure, skilled manpower shortage, transparency and accountability were addressed, the continent’s oil and gas industry may not achieve its full potentials.
Expatiating further on the potentials of Africa’s oil and gas industry, Baru explained that the continent’s energy outlook was looking positive even in the face of difficult operating and economic headwinds.
For instance, he disclosed at the global forum that over 41 billion barrels of oil and 319 trillion cubic feet of gas were yet to be discovered in sub-Saharan Africa alone, while between 2008 and 2017, exploratory success in the sub-region was at least 45 percent.
This is even as he noted there had been a surge in the capital expenditure (CAPEX) across Africa’s oil and gas sector in recent times, with close to $194 billion earmarked to be spent between 2018 and 2025 on 93 yet-to-be explored oil and gas fields in the continent.
According to him, out of this $194 billion, Nigeria accounts for $48.04 billion or over 24.8 percent of the total CAPEX coming into upcoming projects in Africa during the eight year period, with over 20 planned projects.
Baru explained that 23.8 percent of the CAPEX in the continent would be spent in Mozambique, 11.3 percent in Angola, about 29.2 percent in Tanzania, Senegal, Mauritania, Uganda, Egypt, Algeria and Kenya combined.
The NNPC boss pointed out that with more than 14 oil producing countries, Africa currently accounted for 7.5 percent, representing about 126.5 billion barrels of crude oil, and 7.1 percent, or about 488 trillion cubic feet, TCF, of gas, of global proven oil and gas reserves respectively.
On production output, he disclosed that Africa accounted for 8.7 percent, or 8.1million barrels per day (mbp/d) of global oil output and 6.1 percent, representing about 21.8 billion scfd of global gas production even as it consumed four million barrels of oil per day and 13.7bscfd of gas, equivalent to 4.1 per cent and 3.9 per cent of global oil and consumption respectively.
