The 2021 Annual Statistical Bulletin of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries released on Wednesday showed a drop of 543 million barrels in the crude oil reserves of Nigeria.
Figures on world proven oil reserves by country as contained in the bulletin indicated that Nigeria’s oil reserves dropped from 37,453 million barrels in 2016 to 36,910 million barrels in 2020.
The Federal Government had repeatedly stated that it was making efforts to grow the country’s oil reserves in a bid to increase Nigeria’s revenue from crude sales. On August 10, 2021,
The PUNCH reported that the target of the Federal Government was to increase Nigeria’s oil reserves from the 36,910 million (36.91 billion) barrels to 50 billion barrels in the short to medium term.
This was disclosed by the Director/Chief Executive, Department of Petroleum Resources, Sarki Auwalu, during a workshop with industry partners. Further analysis of the latest OPEC bulletin showed that the country’s oil reserves stayed at 37,453 million barrels in 2017, before dropping to 36,972 million barrels in 2018 and 36,890 million barrels in 2019.
OPEC, an organisation that has Nigeria as a long-standing member, also stated that the country’s active oil rigs during the five-year period increased from nine in 2016 to 49 in 2020.
