The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed that 23 oil blocks managed by both international and local oil companies, which are under crude oil Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, failed to produce crude or were inactive.
The federal government agency made this known in its latest Oil and Gas Industry Report for 2021, pointing out that the blocks failed to produce crude in the year under review.
According to the report, PSC contractors that did not produce crude from selected blocks include Esso E&P, Nigerian Agip Exploration, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Texaco Nigeria Outer Shelf Limited, Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited, Statoil Nigeria Limited.
Others are Newcross Petroleum Limited, Sahara Energy Exploration and Production Limited, Conoil Producing Limited, Continental Oil and Gas Limited, Enageed Resources Limited, Nig-Del United OIl Company Limited, Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company Limited, among others.
It also listed the contractors managing the six inactive PSC blocks as GEC Petroleum Development Company Limited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, Monipulo Limited, and Esso Exploration and Production Limited.
Details of the report showed that in 2021, 12 of the PSC oil blocks made production, while 17 blocks did not produce.
It further showed that there were also six inactive blocks, bringing the total number of both inactive oil blocks and those that did not produce crude during the review period to 26.
“The following were the observations on production from PSC blocks In 2021: Only 12 (34 per cent) of the PSC blocks recorded production, while 23 other blocks, representing 66 per cent of total numbers of PSC blocks, did not produce.
“Total production from the PSCs, which was 242.96 million barrels, represents 42.92 per cent of total production of the 566.13 million barrels,” NEITI stated.
The agency further said “The following were the observations on production from PSC blocks In 2021: Only 12 (34 per cent) of the PSC blocks recorded production, while 23 other blocks, representing 66 per cent of total numbers of PSC blocks, did not produce.
“Total production from the PSCs, which was 242.96 million barrels, represents 42.92 per cent of total production of the 566.13 million barrels.”
PSC is an arrangement or contract where the contracted oil company undertakes to fund operations to explore, develop and produce petroleum within a concession area, under an Oil Prospecting License and for an agreed number of years.
