ERASMUS ALANEME, Abuja

Chairman of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Dr. Funso Adebiyi disclosed this weekend in Abuja at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company held at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Towers.

Dr. Adebiyi explained that the rise was as a result of sustained production from the Okono/Okpoho fields and unprecedented and favourable global oil price, which was above the projected price of $55 per barrel.

"The sustained increase in global demand for crude oil in 2006 impacted positively on NPDC’s operations as the company was able to attract higher prices than planned for its crude oil streams with no distressed cargo recorded", he said.

"Given the geo-political developments in the usual spots in the world today and the underlying fundamentals of the global markets, I believe the upward movement in crude oil demand observed in 2006 will continue in 2007".

He said that given the planned activity of the NPDC for 2007 and a reorganized management team, focused on performance and quality service delivery, it is positive that the mid-term objectives of the company of increase in reserves from 350 to 500 million barrels and producibility from 70,000 to 150,000 barrels per day by 2009 would be actualized while complying with government’s directive for zero flare by 2008.

NPDC Managing Director Fisoye Delano who also spoke said the company continued the expansion of its portfolio in 2006, with incursions into the international terrain through participation in the bid for a block in Equatorial Guinea.

"This would provide a unique entry by NPDC into what is generally acceptable today as a fast growing Gulf of Guinea petroleum play", he said.

Delano further said that it was the plan of NPDC to double its production within three years through infill development, aggressive exploration and development of its portfolio of assets.

He, however, said that more could have been achieved but for the continued shut down of land operations in Abura, Oredo and Oziengbe fields, the attack of Mystras by militants in November 2006, which adversely affected production. He said that about 2.2 million barrels of production were deferred and the company’s inability to execute the drilling campaign due to rig unavailability.

On Joint Venture activities, he said that a budget of $12.891 million was approved for the year 2006 for NPDC by the NNPC-JV partners, resulting to key achievements in acquiring Chevron assets and Shell Petroleum Development Company assets.