Nigeria earns $2billion from oil blocs

The Federal Government earned the sum of  $2.187 billion as signature bonus from the sale of blocks awarded between 1990 and 2006. Tony Chukwueke, the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said.

Chukwueke, who disclosed this while presenting a paper entitled "Acreage Licensing rounds in Nigeria- the journey so far" at a stakeholders forum in Lagos said the Federal Government would continue to woo investors into the country with a view to boosting the downstream sector.

The director however, regretted the recent capture of five Koreans by Niger Delta militants saying that the nation loses over 800,000 barrels of crude oil due to the recent upheaval in the nation's oil rich region.

According to him, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) incurred about 500,000bpd of the entire loss occasioned by the attacks. "We are experiencing one of the most difficult periods in the history of Nigeria's oil and gas industry. As I am talking to you, Nigeria is losing over 800,000bpd. So this is a trying period for the Federal Government despite its drive to ensure that sanity reigns in the sector."

The DPR boss further warned that if the incessant spate of attacks is not arrested, it might jerk up the price of crude oil in the international market to an abysmal level.

While faulting the Bonga oil field operated by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production (SNEPCO) as a shallow exercise, the director said government stood to earn nothing from the project in which it so committed more. The Bonga project constructed at the cost of USS3.6 billion was streamed in November 2005 with an initial 100000bpd. This may have jumped up in recent times. But the director who faulted the cost of the project explained that government would soon review the contract agreement in order to realize revenue.

Note: The stakeholders' forum took place before Chukwueke was reportedly re-assigned.

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