Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has disclosed that one billion barrels of crude oil have been discovered in the Northeastern part of Nigeria.
Sylva made this announcement while addressing newsmen at the end of the 2020 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit, NIPS, in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said;
“The figure we are getting, the jury is not totally out yet but from the evaluation results, we are getting the reserve that has been discovered in the northeast is about a billion barrels.
“Those are the kind of figures we are seeing and we are beginning to understand the geological structure of the region.”
Sylva added that more exploration of crude oil needs to be carried out as there are lots of oil in the country. He further commented on the passing of the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill, stating confidently that the bill will be passed based on mutual understanding between the legislature of the executive government.
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He said;
“We are banking on the fact today to make that promise on the fact that there is a very cordial relationship now between the legislature and executive.
“Today Nigerians all agree that there is a need for us to pass the PIB.
“For so long we have been quivering about the PIB, for more than 20 years. And for so long, we have not been able to attract a lot of investment into the oil sector.
“Let me give you an example, by the year 2002, our oil reserves stood at around 22 billion barrels. We were able to grow that reserve from 22 billion barrels to 37 billion barrels by 2007.
“From 2007 to now, we have only been able to grow our reserves from 37 billion barrels to 37.5 billion barrels, in more than 10 years. Why? Not much investment is coming into Nigeria.”
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