Nigeria: 'Do not have the capacity to go deep shores,' says Orji on crude oil production

The executive secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Ogbonnaya Orji, said that the exact quantity of crude oil produced in the country is unexplored as it lacks the capacity to go deep shores during a courtesy visit to the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) on Thursday, according to a report by The Cable.

NEITI pays courtesy visit to the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). @RadioNigeria @EITIorg @PWYPtweets #transparency #accountability #upliftingthepeople #unitingthenation pic.twitter.com/AjnTv93bMq

— NEITI Nigeria (@nigeriaeiti) April 15, 2021

Orji made the statement in his visit to the director-general of FRCN, Mansur Liman. While explaining the lack of information on crude oil production, he said that the condition persists due to the failure to monitor deep offshore fields in absence of meters at wellheads.

"We do not have the capacity to go deep shores to know how much we are producing. As we speak, it is very difficult for any Nigerian to ascertain how much actually we are producing... This is one of the challenges that NEITI is dealing with because if you do not know how much you are producing, how would you know how much you are expected to earn? The companies that go deep shore that are involved in offshore exploration, none of them are indigenous Nigerian companies and they cannot really protect the interest of the country as much as Nigerians can. But we must concede to those companies, they are doing a great job here because without them there will be no oil industry," he added.

Orji further said that the agency has been recommending the placement of meters on oil wellheads to level crude oil volume in its gad and oil audit reports. He further stated that efforts to reform the oil sector have failed because those who benefit from the outmoded law governing the sector are preventing the passage of the petroleum industry bill (PIB).

He said, "the only law that governs the oil and gas industry in Nigeria currently is the Petroleum Act of 1958. If you use this law in computations of taxes and royalties based on a very old rate, Nigeria loses a lot of revenue," he said.