Nigeria now produces crude oil from over 246 fields across the country and operates 188 production stations/platforms, the Federal Government has stated.
Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), an agency of the Federal Government, indicated that country’s oil-producing fields had been on the rise since the first commercial oil discovery in the country by Shell Darcy at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, in 1956.
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The NUPRC document, which focused on stability in the oil sector, read in part, “Since 1956, the Nigerian upstream oil and gas landscape has grown with the development and installation of several oil and gas facilities.
“With over 246 producing fields, 2,777 producing strings, 188 production stations/platforms, four gas terminals, five land terminals, 11 FSOs (Floating Storage and Offloading Units), 18 FPSOs (Floating Production Storage and Offloading), and several other facilities at various stages of development, Nigeria is poised to boost production and enhance energy security.”
Nigeria has been recording improvements in oil outputs and installations lately.
Figures released by OPEC indicated that the country’s oil rigs increased from 15 in January to 16 in February, a development that industry operators described as significant for the production of crude.
According to Punch, the country operated an average of 13, 16 and 14 oil rigs in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively.
An oil rig/platform is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed.
Nigeria, as an oil/gas-rich country, drills crude oil daily from onshore and offshore sources for export.
It earns more than 80 per cent of its foreign exchange from oil; hence, the number of functional oil drilling rigs across the country is vital.