Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has announced the discovery of one billion barrel of crude oil in the North-east.
Sylva said this at the end of the 2020 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja on Wednesday.
“The figure is not totally out yet but from the evaluation results so far, the reserve that has been discovered in the northeast is about a billion barrels”, NAN quoted him as saying.
“Those are the kind of figures we are seeing and we are beginning to understand the geological structure of the region”.
Sylva said that there was a need for more exploration across the country in order to find more oil.
On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the minister expressed confidence that it would be passed.
“We have been quivering about the PIB for more than 20 years. We have not been able to attract a lot of investment to the oil sector.
“An example: By the year 2002, our oil reserves stood at around 22 billion barrels. We were able to grow that reserve from 22 billion barrels to 37 billion barrels by 2007.
“From 2007 to now, we have only been able to grow our reserves from 37 billion barrels to 37.5 billion barrels, in more than 10 years.”
The former Bayelsa governor said if nobody knows when laws will be passed, no investor will put in Nigeria.
“And that is why you see that we have almost been stagnant in the Nigerian oil industry.
“We believe that there is a consensus among all of us – industry, Nigerians and government – that there is a need to stabilise the fiscal framework so that investors will be certain and move their money to Nigeria,” he said.
Sylva added that there all patriotic Nigerians are hoping that in six months, the PIB will be passed.
