Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum has said Nigeria should meet the production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in May 2023.
The minister said this in an interview with reporters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Last month, Nigeria’s oil production rose above the 1 million mark for the first time since July 2022.
But despite the increase, the figure is lower than the 1.8 million bpd quota set by OPEC.
However, the minister said the country is making efforts to stop the importation of petroleum products by the third quarter of 2023.
Sylva also said the new Dangote refinery is expected to come on stream in the first quarter of next year.
He further said the Port Harcourt refinery which has been refurbished would be delivering 60,000 barrels per day of refined crude by the end of December.
“We’re expecting that we will actually be exiting the importation of petroleum products from maybe about a third quarter next year if I was to give it a longer timeframe, but I believe that even before the third quarter next year,” Sylva said.
“Nigeria’s production of crude had improved to about 1.3 million barrels per day from under 1 million barrels previously, and the country hoped to meet its OPEC quota by May of next year.”
Meanwhile, Warri refinery is expected to commence operations by December 2023, according to Desmond Inyamah, acting managing director, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC).
Also, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a South Korean conglomerate to rehabilitate the Kaduna refinery.
With the federal government’s effort to rebuild refineries, the country’s capacity to refine crude will be resuscitated and subsidy on shortfall from importation would be eliminated.
