Nigeria’s crude oil earnings to shrink

Nigeria’s earnings from crude oil will diminish in the next couple of years, some experts in the nation’s oil and gas sector have said.

The experts made the assertion on Friday in their presentations at the just concluded Society of Petroleum Engineers Conference and Exhibitions in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.

Their projections were based on limited demands for crude oil amid subsisting free-fall in the international price of crude oil.

The price behaviour was related to the supply and demand in the world oil market, said Omowumi Iledare of the Department of Petroleum Economics, Louisiana State University, US.

He urged Nigerians to think of higher domestic consumption and show fiscal responsibility.

Iledare said the country needed petroleum assets domestication that would assist local investors to diversify and grow the economy.

On the subsidy issue, he said one could not regulate an economic product unless it was a regular monopoly. He also urged the government to create a conducive atmosphere for new investments in the establishment of modern refineries across the nation.

Speaking in the same vein, Clay Neff, chairman and managing director, Chevron Nigeria Ltd, said the present crude oil price posed a serious challenge for the stakeholder to look beyond oil.

Neff urged the nation to reposition its activities and stimulate competition in the nation’s oil and gas sector.

He said the government’s exploration of the other mineral resources would expand the nation’s income Stream.On his part, Austin Avuru, managing director, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc., said there was need for collaboration between the International Oil Companies (IOC) and the government to achieve desired results.

The new government is open, and is inviting experts in the sector for dialogue and we believe that with the collaboration of IOCs and the government will continue to progress, he added. — Xinhua.