Nigeria’s Oil Reserves Will Run Dry Before 2070 – DPR

Nigeria’s crude oil reserves of 37 billion barrels, 2 percent of which is being produced yearly will be depleted in 49 years, the Department of Petroleum Resources has said.

The Department, however, said if there are lots of exploration, a lot of oil will still be found in Nigeria, which is the beauty of the country.

According to him, Nigeria is yet to be mature enough but still super prolific.

The Department of Petroleum Resources added that it might be time to look into the exploration of gas as this cou;d put the nation in the league of the most prolific across the globe.

His words, “The nation’s depletion rate and life index are 2.04 per cent and 49.03 years respectively,”

“The life index, on the other hand, is a measure of the reserves as of January 1, 2019, divided by the total production in 2018. This parameter highlights how long (in years) quoted reserves volumes will be available for production.”

“Perhaps, the companies may have taken advantage of the poor government take in the deep offshore terrain to deplete the reserves therein with little regard for long-term sustainable production as amplified by the life index,”

“Though this shows a positive RRR, it is not an impressive performance as just four per cent of the 2018 annual production was replaced via net addition to reserves.

“The ideal scenario is when we have a 100 per cent RRR, i.e replace reserves at the same production rate. The RRR is used to judge the operating performance of the exploration and production industry. An RRR that is consistently over 100 per cent is ideal as it indicates that more reserve is being replaced than is produced.”

“If there is a lot of exploration, we believe that a lot of oil still remains to be found in Nigeria. And that is the beauty about Nigeria. Nigeria is not yet a mature territory; it is still very prolific.”

“There has been no targeted exploration for gas and yet we have 200 Tcf reserves. So, we believe that if we really go out looking for gas, we can find a lot more that will put us in the league of the most prolific in the world.

“Let us allow the investment to come into Nigeria, because there is still a lot of oil and gas to be found. Unfortunately, the bad news is that the world’s 2020 outlook tells you that by 2040, oil and gas will account for only 50 per cent of the energy of the world.”