- Crude oil reserves drop to 36.89 barrels
- NNPC begins bulk sales to marketers online
Peter Uzoho in Lagos and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The federal government has put Nigeria’s total gas reserves as of January 1, 2020, at 203.16 trillion cubic feet (TCF), representing a marginal increase of 1.16tcf or 0.57 per cent from the 202tcf recorded in 2019.
The reserves are made up of 100.69tcf of Associated Gas (AG) and 102.47TCF of Non-Associated Gas (NAG).
Also as of January 1, 2020, Nigeria’s crude oil reserves dropped to 36.89 billion barrels, representing a decline of 82 million barrels and 0.22 per cent of what was recorded in 2019.
The Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Sarki Auwalu, announced this yesterday at a virtual conversation between DPR and journalists on topical issues in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) also said yesterday that it had deployed a sales and distribution application in the oil and gas secondary model portal that would enable marketers to buy petroleum products online.
Auwalu said the agency was targeting to raise the nation’s gas reserves to 220TCF by 2030.
According to him, of the 36.89 billion barrels, oil accounted for 31.418 billion barrels, while condensate contributed 5.476 million barrels.
On the newly-launched bid round for the 57 marginal oil fields, Auwalu said only not challenging decision on the marginal oil fields were qualified to bid for them.
He added that none of the advertised marginal oil fields is in litigation, stating that the decision to conduct the bid round now was to show that Nigeria was ready for business.
On the level reached with the gas flare commercialisation programme, he said the programme had reached the commercial stage, saying COVID-19 caused some delay in the project.
He said the companies jostling for flare points had met most of the pre-qualification expectations, adding that they have the money and the technology but that COVID-19 has delayed them access to the flare points, as they needed to visit the sites.
“What is holding (up) the programme is COVID-19. Because (the bidders) need access to the flare points…they have to go and see (them) physically. We had to officially extend the programme by six weeks,” he stated.
He, however, stated that there has been a stable profile of gas flare volume between 2017 and 2019 which stands at about 300 billion cubic feet (bcf) per annum.
NNPC Begins Sale of Petrol Online
NNPC said yesterday that it had deployed a sales and distribution application in the oil and gas secondary model portal that would enable marketers to buy petroleum products online.
The corporation noted that the move was to minimise human contacts in business transactions at the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a downstream subsidiary of NNPC, as a result of the spread of COVID-19.
A statement in Abuja by the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, quoted the corporation’s Group General Manager, Information Technology Division (ITD), Mr. Danladi Inuwa, as saying that some major marketers have already begun the use of the new platform.
He said the application, known as the Customer Express, would also enable marketers to register, validate and revalidate their bulk purchase agreements online within a week.
According to the national oil company, the portal also provides a dashboard that enables the corporation to track every molecule of products being imported, transported and sold at every given time.
“The portal shows what product is in transit in terms of volume, what quantity is in the jetty, what volume has gone into the pipelines, what quantity has gone into NNPC depots, private depots and refinery depots. So, we have an accurate accounting of every molecule of products that we have in our system.
“Already, the members of Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) are now purchasing products online seamlessly, while the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) and other relevant downstream stakeholders are expected to start transacting business on the platform soon” NNPC added.
