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The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Solomon
Adeola, had given the suggestion during the budget defence session between his
committee and the management of the NNPCL.
The Federal Government, in the Appropriation Bill, gave an
average crude oil production benchmark of 1.78 mb/d, and a crude oil price
benchmark of $77.96.
The NNPCL GCEO told the committee that the oil giant would
stick to the benchmark approved by President Bola Tinubu in the Appropriation
Bill.
Kyari submitted that the crude oil price and production
benchmarks were based on dynamics in the global oil market.
He said, “I will advise that we stick to the submission of
Mr President on the quota. There is no way we will get crude oil (for) less
than $70.
“Once economies are growing, there will be sustained demands
for crude oil in our country and other countries.
“The estimates supplied by Mr President are realistic. When
we say production, we mean total production of crude oil and condensates.
“So we combine condensates and crude oil as total marginal
production. So we know our estimates are realistic. There is no curtailment on
condensates from OPEC.”
Reinforcing his stance on realistic estimates by Tinubu,
Kyari, however, cautioned that security challenges in the Niger Delta region
could frustrate the projections of the Federal Government, citing crude oil
theft.
The NNPCL GCEO told the gathering of lawmakers and
journalists that illegal crude oil bunkering in the oil-producing states is
alarming as he revealed that there were over 4,800 illegal connections on crude
oil pipelines.
Kyari, while responding to the comments by a Peoples
Democratic Party lawmaker representing Bayelsa Central, Benson Konbowei, who
said he, like every other person from the Niger Delta, could distill oil, said,
“The situation we have in (the) Niger Delta in terms of security is a calamity.
“We don’t have that anywhere in the world. As it is today,
about 4,800 illegal connections are made on the over 5,000 oil pipelines across
the country.
“The illegal connections on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta
is so rampant that within 100 kilometres of the affected pipelines, 300
insertions are made on them, which eventually made the pipe to be weak to the
point of not being able to hold the pressure of oil pumped, let alone,
delivering it to the targeted destination.
“Additionally, it is abnormal to engage non-state actors to
protect critical assets like oil pipelines. We have, however, responded
abnormally and are getting results, because unlike as it was in July 2022 when
less than 1.2 million barrels of oil were produced per day, it has been 1.5
million barrels per day within the last two to three months.”
Kyari also gave an update on the turnaround maintenance of
the nation’s four refineries, insisting that the Port Harcourt refineries would
come on stream in December while the Warri Refinery would resume production in
the first quarter of 2024.
The NNPCL GCEO gave December 2024 as the production target
of the Kaduna Refinery.
He also informed the committee members that the 1.78 mbp/d
oil production for the 2024 budget, included condensate which was 200,000 to
300,000 barrels bp/d.
Reacting, Senator Adeola, said Kyari had strengthened the
committee’s convictions on the workability of the assumptions and projections
of the 2024 budgetary proposals.