The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has lamented the country’s dwindling crude oil output, describing it as a major obstacle to unlocking Nigeria’s full refining capacity and achieving energy self-sufficiency.
Chairman of PETAN, Wole Ogunsanya, stated this during an interview session with journalists on the sidelines of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which ended at the weekend in Houston, Texas.
Ogunsanya noted that while Nigeria needs approximately 900,000 barrels of crude oil daily to satisfy its domestic refining needs, the country currently produces around 1.8 million barrels per day, an output that must be shared between local consumption and export obligations.
According to him, out of the 1.8m bpd oil production, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) quota for Nigeria is 1.5 million bpd.
Providing a clearer picture of Nigeria’s crude oil demand for domestic refining, the PETAN Chairman noted that the Dangote Refinery accounts for the largest share with a daily requirement of about 650,000 barrels.
He added that although NNPC’s refineries were originally designed for a combined capacity of 450,000 barrels per day, operational constraints have trimmed their immediate requirement to roughly 200,000 barrels.
