Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

The Federal Government has raised concern over the continued rise in the cost of production of a barrel of crude oil.

Minister of State for Petroluem Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who described it as an anomaly lamented that it “erodes our net revenue from crude oil sales and depletes the resources meant for development.”

Sylva who stated this during the ninth Annual Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) Forum organised by CWC Africa in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCBMD) with the theme ‘’Leveraging Local Expertise for Market Growth & Expansion’’ in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, disclosed that Nigeria’s cost of production per barrel of crude oil is one of the highest among the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

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Sylva told participants at the forum which included all key players in Nigerian oil industry that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources under his supervision has selected key priority areas to contribute to the improve production, low cost of production of crude and the increase in the volume of the production capacity of the Country.

“The areas include the Eradication of smuggling of PMS across Nigerian Borders; the Completion of Gas Flare Commercialization Program; Increase of Crude Oil production to three million barrels per day and reduction of the cost of Crude Oil production by at least five percent. Other priorities include; the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill; Increase of domestic refining capacity and implementation of the amended Deep Offshore & Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act.

“The key outcomes of these priority areas will be Job creation and Poverty Reduction, which are the cardinal aspirations of the Next Level Agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Government. I ask for your maximum support and cooperation to achieve these priorities and other plans we would unfold in the course of time.”