The Department of Petroleum Resources has said the Federal Government will promote active exploration for new oil and gas resources in the country as it seeks to ramp up reserves to 50 billion barrels.
The DPR said it had identified six pillars critical to its strategy for Maximum Economic Recovery for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The Director and Chief Executive Officer, DPR, Mr Sarki Auwalu, was quoted in a statement as saying at a recent meeting with technical teams from the industry that the objective of MER was to maximise the expected net value of economically recoverable petroleum from the country’s acreages.
According to him, the pillars critical to MER are reserves maturation and production optimisation, exploration and resources maturation, improved oil recovery, enhanced oil recovery implementation, asset stewardship, performance evaluation and rewards and risk management.
Auwalu said this would help protect investments, business continuity and sustainability, improved collaboration and cost reduction in the industry.
He said the Federal Government, through the MER strategies, was targeting to increase the country’s oil reserves from 36.91 billion barrels to 50 billion barrels in the short to midterm.
He said the government was also targeting increasing the proven gas reserves from 206.53 trillion cubic feet to 250Tcf.
Auwalu said as part of the MER’s strategy, the DPR had initiated annual awards for companies, projects or individuals who added value to the Nigerian terrain through improved and enhanced recovery of the country’s oil and gas resources.
He said, “As the part of the government’s obligation, it will encourage investment in Nigeria by creating a stable, competitive and predictable business environment.
“The government will encourage existing technologies to be deployed to full effect to maximise full economic recovery of Nigerian resources.
“The government will also promote active exploration for new oil and gas resources in Nigeria and facilitate timely and effective data sharing.”
The DPR boss said it would ensure greater access to the timely and transparent data necessary for a competitive market.
He added that the agency would work closely with industry stakeholders to deliver MER through collaborations, communication, cooperation and coordination.
