Mr. Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, who is the Managing Director of First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited (First E&P) and Chairman of Indigenous Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), has said in an interview that indigenous oil companies need to be encouraged because of their important role in Nigeria’s economy, Daily Trust reports.
He said that Nigerian indigenous upstream exploration and production companies were most likely to want to send the oil and gas they produce to the domestic market. He said; “I don’t have a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant to export [the gas], and most likely, we will want to send the crude to our local refinery if we can. So, I am impacting the local economy better than the IOCs who tend to just export.”
In terms of the growth of local oil firms he said; “If you go to the US, 50 to 60 years ago, they had the local players who matured and went international, and you have the same thing in the UK. So, what’s happening in Nigeria is not new, government needs to encourage it because ultimately the oil industry has to be in the hands of Nigerians. Not that you are squeezing away the IOCs, but you are getting the right balance.”
In terms of production by indigenous firms, he said Seplat bought some assets from Shell-OML 4, 38 and 41-which were producing 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) but are currently producing 80,000 bpd. “Seplat has invested probably in excess of $5/6bn into those assets. If Shell was still there, because Shell has so many assets, maybe they wouldn’t have spent even $200m,” he said. He added that ND Western, Eroton and Aiteo which bought assets making 40,000 bpd have also taken production to 90,000 bpd.
