The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru has said investment opportunities of over $48billion were available in the upcoming projects in the country’s oil and gas industry.
He therefore called on investors to take advantage of the opportunities.
Baru made the comments at the International Petroleum Week conference in London.
Speaking at a Panel Session on: Insights on Future Exploration Hotspots: Opportunities for Africa’s Oil & Gas Industry under the sub-theme: The New Frontier for Africa’s Oil & Gas at the 2019 the NNPC boss said the Africa’s energy outlook was looking positive amid difficult operating and economic headwinds.
A statement issued by the NNPC quoted Baru as saying that over 41billion barrels of oil and 319trillion cubic feet (Tcf) 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 about 45 per cent.
He explained further on investment opportunities in Nigeria, saying that the NNPC’s Frontier Exploration Service was currently drilling the Kolmani River-2 Well where desktop estimates revealed that about 400Bcf of gas is expected to be encountered.
According to Baru, several new frontiers for exploration opportunities abound in Nigeria, even as offshore discoveries in the country have mostly been limited to between 1,000 – 1,500m of water depth.
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He noted that there has been a surge in capital expenditure, CAPEX, across Africa’s oil and gas sector, with close to $194billion earmarked to be spent between 2018 and 2025 on 93 upcoming oil and gas fields in Africa.
“Out of this $194billion, Nigeria accounts for $48.04 billion (over 24.8 per cent) of the total CAPEX coming into upcoming projects in Africa over 2018 to 2025, with over 20 planned projects,” he quoted as saying.
Baru disclosed that 23.8 per cent of the CAPEX in Africa would be spent in Mozambique, 11.3 per cent in Angola while Tanzania, Senegal, Mauritania, Uganda, Egypt, Algeria and Kenya combined would get about about 29.2 per cent.
He contended that with over 14 oil producing countries, Africa currently accounts for 7.5 per cent (126.5billion barrels of crude oil) and 7.1per cent (488 Tcf of gas) of global proven oil and gas reserves respectively.
In terms of production, he said the continent accounted for 8.7 per cent (8.1million barrels per day) of global oil production and 6.1 per cent (21.8bscfd) of global gas production, even as it consumed 4million 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).
