Nigeria’s oil reserves dropped by 543 million barrels in four years, according to data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC’s 2021 Annual Statistical Bulletin Figures released on Wednesday showed that Nigeria’s oil reserves dropped from 37.45 billion barrels in 2016 to 36.91 billion barrels in 2020.
The Federal Government had repeatedly stated that it was making efforts to grow the country’s oil reserves in a bid to increase Nigeria’s revenue from crude sales.
The Director/Chief Executive, Department of Petroleum Resources, Sarki Auwalu, during a workshop this year disclosed the plans of the Federal Government to increase Nigeria’s oil reserves from 36.91 billion barrels to 50 billion barrels in the short to medium term.
The OPEC statistics showed that the country’s oil reserves stayed at 37,453 million barrels in 2017, before dropping to 36,972 million barrels in 2018 and 36,890 million barrels in 2019.
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OPEC added that Nigeria’s active oil rigs during the five-year period increased from nine in 2016 to 49 in 2020.
It further stated that Nigeria’s active crude oil rigs in 2017, 2018 and 2019 were 13, 32, and 17 respectively.
According to the cartel, the number of oil wells that were completed in Nigeria moved up from 76 in 2016 to 81 in 2020.
The country also completed 76, 81 and 100 oil wells in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively.
On daily and cumulative crude oil production, OPEC stated that the average daily production of oil in Nigeria in 2020 was 1.486 million barrels, while the cumulative production in same year was 34.42 billion barrels.
The report showed that while the country’s average crude oil production was 1.43 million barrels per day in 2016, it moved up to 1.54mbpd in 2017.
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