The Joint Task Force South-South, Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the International Oil Companies, to increase production to meet the federal Government’s target of 2.2 million barrels per day.
Coordinator, OPDS Joint Media Campaign Centre, Major Kayode Owolabi made the call on Sunday while giving progress reports on crude oil production and security in the Niger Delta.
Owolabi said the development followed a directive from the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa on July 17, 2024, to end crude oil theft.
According to him, the OPDS Commander, Rear Admiral John Okeke has since implemented several key measures, which had cumulated in the terminal factors on major pipelines—Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), Trans Escravos Pipeline (TEP), and Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP)— to attain a 100 per cent flow, with daily crude oil output reaching approximately 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd).
This he said indicated that IOCs are currently operating at full capacity, although he admitted that there have been some incidents of vandalism.
Upon the above premise, Okeke urged both local and international oil companies to ramp up production and fully utilise pipeline capacity.
“If pipelines are already at full capacity, the NNPCL must evaluate the nation’s capability to produce 2.2 million bpd, with long-term efforts focusing on enhancing production capacity.
It would be recalled that at a security meeting with Zonal and Divisional military commanders and heads of other security agencies on July 17th, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, gave a two-week deadline for improvement on the security situation in the Niger Delta Region, to boost crude oil production.
The development comes following a live nationwide broadcast by President Bola Tinubu in a live broadcast on Sunday, where he said the country’s once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the economic reforms he announced in May 2024.
Tinubu said, “Last month, we increased our oil production to 1.61 million barrels per day, and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve.”
Nigeria’s crude oil production has been on a decline as a result of crude oil theft in oil-producing states, especially in the Niger Delta.
