$10 per Barrel Production Cost Will Not Hamper Growth Of Local Content—Kyari

The Group Managing Director of the  Nigerian  National Petroleum Corporation has assured Nigerians that the planned cut in production cost to $10 per barrel will not stifle investments or hamper the growth of local content and capacity.

Mele Kyari who spoke at the “Seplat Energy Summit 2020,” a Webinar organised conference said oil companies should feel free to leave any project that they think they cannot execute at  $10 per barrel by 2021.

According to kyari it would be unreasonable for the companies to produce a barrel of crude oil at a cost higher than what the NNPC has planned to achieve.

He said, “Bringing down the unit cost is not at all cost. If you cannot produce it, leave it.

”We are making efforts to drive down the cost of crude oil production to $10 per barrel. We are doing that mindful that it doesn’t stifle investments or hamper the growth of local content and capacity.”

Asides driving down the cost of production, the GMD said the Corperation is focusing on gas development.

”We have huge gas resources which can be harnessed to power industries and engender development,” he added.

He explained that it is very important that the country has connectivity in Africa in terms of economic activities and oil and gas infrastructure.

This, he said, was the sole reason why the corporation was working tirelessly to have the Trans African Gas Pipeline and to expand the West African Gas Pipeline.

Kyari reiterated that Nigeria’s ambition to produce three million barrels of crude oil per day is realisable adding that at the peak of the COVID19 pandemic in April, the county produced above two million barrels per day.