Chairman of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, TSSNL, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, has avowed that Nigeria’s crude oil production will hit 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) by December 2024.
The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, had announced on Thursday that Nigeria’s crude oil production has hit 1.8 mbpd while gas production has risen to 7.4 billion standard cubic feet per day.
The development has attracted plaudits for the NNPCL and other stakeholders involved in attaining the feat, including security agencies and Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, TSSNL, a private security outfit that is handling the pipeline protection contract awarded by the Federal Government in a bid to check oil theft in the Niger Delta.
Reacting to the development, Tompolo, who spoke through his Special Adviser, Media and Public Communication, Paul Bebenimibo, said Tantita was committed to the realisation of 2 mbpd by December 2024, as directed by President Bola Tinubu.
He said: “This milestone, as you know, was achieved in collaboration with NNPCL, security forces and of course, Tantita, which has been at the forefront of oil pipeline protection in the Niger Delta.
“We are determined to take it to 2 mbpd before the year runs out as directed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“All the needed machinery has been put in place to ensure that the target is achieved. No effort will be spared to ensure that the economy of Nigeria is galvanised.
“This will lead to a boost in government’s revenue, thereby making more funds available for the President and his team to run the country effectively. I am assuring you that we are not going to rest on our oars until the target is achieved and even exceeded.
“New technologies were being deployed to monitor the facilities with a view to ensuring that there won’t be any disruption and that the theft of Nigeria’s commonwealth is halted.
“So the 1.8mbpd that it has got to, certainly by the end of the year, by God’s grace, we will work to get it to 2 mbpd and even exceed. We are working towards that.”
Following the award of the pipeline protection contract by the Nigerian government in 2022, in response to massive oil theft in the country, Tantita, working with security agencies, led the war against crude oil theft and pipelines vandalism, pursuing oil thieves out of the nation’s coastal environment as well as seizing and confiscating their equipment.
It was gathered that most of the oil thieves abandoned the nefarious business in the wake of the onslaught by the operatives of Tantita positioned in the coastal axis of the Niger Delta.
These collaborative efforts with other state actors significantly contributed to the latest rise in the quantum of production of crude and gas resources.
DAILY POST reports that NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, who announced the 1.8 mbpd crude production milestone at a press briefing on Thursday in Abuja, said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Tinubu.
Kyari also congratulated the Production War Room Team, which anchored the production recovery process.
“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we have from the President, the honourable minister, and the board,” Kyari stated.
Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Lawal Musa, said the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.
Musa said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain, with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He observed that when the Production War Room Team was inaugurated on the 25th of June 2024, production was at 1.430 mbpd.
According to Musa, the team swung into action, culminating in it sustaining the production recovery to 1.7 mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808 mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2 mbpd by the end of the year,” he added.
Nigeria’s crude oil production will exceed 2 mbpd by December – Tompolo
