Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister for Petroleum Resources Oil, has said the federal government would not hesitate to take back oil assets, as only five out of 60 licences issued during the 2021 marginal oil field bid round are currently in use.
Lokpobiri disclosed this at an event organised by The Petroleum Club in Lagos. According to him, FG is looking to ramp up crude oil production to boost revenue, and would not tolerate dormant oil licences.
He said the government would no longer allow any company or individuals to hold onto licences as souvenirs.
The minister said, the worst thing that will happen to Nigeria is for our refinery to be fully rehabilitated and we will have to import crude from another country.
The minister said Nigeria had lost about $30bn to low oil production in the past two and half years, adding that increasing crude oil production would automatically drop the dollar against the naira.
Meanwhile, latest report by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, disclosed that the country’s oil production had depleted from 1.4mbpd to 1.2mbpd, a situation the minister said was being addressed to grow production.
