TheCable

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, says Nigeria’s current crude oil export volume is less than 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd).

In an interview with NAN, Kachikwu said the country can only return to producing over 2 million bpd if peace returns to Niger-Delta.

“What is important is that once we find the peace, which I am sure we will…there would be enough time for us to ramp up and recover some parts of the losses,” he said.

Kachikwu said the export level was negatively affecting the 60 per cent to 40 per cent joint venture agreement of the federal government.

“In terms of exports, you know that usually we tend to have a 60 to 40 per cent joint venture (JV), the 1.6 million barrels is a mixture of Production Sharing Contract and JV production,” he said.

“The first is the 445,000 barrels which goes into our local production for the refined petroleum products that we see.

“If you take that out, we are probably at less than 1.3 million barrels in the export volume.”

The minister said the volume of oil available to the federation had dwindled substantially, adding that federal government was making every effort to ensure increase in the volume in order to enable the government meet the demand of 2016 budget projection on the oil production.

On Monday, the federal government said it would open dialogue with militants who have wreaked havoc on oil installations.

It said the national security adviser, military chiefs, opinion leaders and the minister of petroleum resources would would engage the militants in the dialogue.

Kachikwu said peace in the Niger Delta is important for normalcy in the country.