Nigeria to be delisted from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

By: Victor Ulasi, Nigeria

National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) of Nigeria has expressed great concern that Nigeria will soon be delisted from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as Nigeria is gradually running out of crude oil.

As tension rises in Nigeria that the price of crude oil will soon fall to $30 per barrel and production to be reduced to about 1.5 million per day, that will led the Nigerian Government into bankruptcy which will result to the distilment of Nigeria from OPEC while Petroleum geologists stated that Nigeria still has about 3 decades as the 30 billion barrel crude oil reserve will be use up in 29 years approximately.

The General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) planning sector, Victor Briggs demanded that the Federal Government of Nigeria invites investors from both the International Community and the local community stating that without investments Nigeria will run out of crude oil making it impossible to export crude oil and will no longer be on the list of OPEC.

Victor who made it known that Nigeria is busy spending the money gotten from crude oil which is been paid in directly into the Federal Government account without making plans on how to invest in the oil sector, upgrade or explore the new methods of oil discovery and improve security in the Niger Delta region.

“On the other hand if the current security environment is sustained and even improved and we are able to increase our production to about 2.5 million bpd and the price goes to US$100pb we should be looking at about $62 billion revenue which means we will be able to pay the cash calls and even keep some monies for investment”.

Speaking further, he called on the National Assembly of Nigeria to pass into law, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which will increase the nation’s oil revenue by US$3 billion (about N450 billion) annually. “The PIB if passed immediately will add a minimum of US$2 billion to the national treasury. The benefit can even hit US$3 billion”, he said.

To this end, oppositions said that National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation are raising false alarm about the Nigerian Crude oil in order to make the national Assembly pass the Petroleum Industry Bill which will increase the annual income of the oil sector, so that they will have more to steal.

Posted by worldnews on February 2, 2010. Filed under International Business News,International News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.