HISTORY OF PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION IN THE OIL AND GAS SECTOR OF NIGERIA

An Exploration and Production Company (E & P) is in a specific sector of the oil and gas industry - companies involved in high-risk / high-yield exploration and production focus on research, increase, production and merchandising of different types of oil. and gas.

Exploration and Production (E & P) is known as the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry. Resource owners and operators work with various contractors such as engineering and procurement contractors, as well as with joint venture partners and oil services companies, and as E operators and P producing oil and gas they cater for infrastructure and collect massive amounts of analytical data.

In 2000, oil and gas exports accounted for more than 98% of export earnings and about 83% of federal government revenues, while generating more than 14% of its GDP. It also provides 95% of foreign exchange earnings and about 65% of the government's budget revenue.

Nigeria's proven oil reserves are estimated by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) at between 16 and 22 billion barrels (2.5 × 109 and 3.5 × 109 m3), but other sources say that it could reach 35.3 billion barrels (5.61 × 109 m3). Its reserves make Nigeria the tenth richest country in oil, and by far the richest in Africa. In mid-2001, its crude oil production averaged about 2,200,000 barrels (350,000 m3) per day. The industry is expected to continue to be profitable based on an average reference oil price of $ 85 to $ 90 per barrel.

Almost all of the country's primary reserves are concentrated in and around the Niger Delta, but off-shore platforms are also important in the well-endowed coastal region. Nigeria is one of the few major oil producing countries still able to increase oil production. Unlike most other OPEC countries, Nigeria is not expected to exceed peak production before at least 2009. The reason for Nigeria's relative unproductivity is mainly OPEC's regulation of production to regulate production. price on the international market. More recently, production has been intermittently disrupted by protests from people in the Niger Delta who feel exploited.

Nigeria has a total of 159 oil fields and 1481 wells in operation according to the Petroleum Resources Department. The most productive region of the nation is the Niger Delta coastal basin in the Niger Delta or "south-south" which encompasses 78 of the 159 oil fields. Most of Nigeria's oil fields are small and scattered, and by 1990 these small unproductive fields accounted for 62.1% of all Nigerian production. This contrasts with the sixteen largest fields that produced 37.9% of Nigeria's oil at that time.

Due to the many small fields, an extensive and well-developed pipeline system has been designed to transport crude oil. In addition, because of the absence of highly productive fields, money from jointly managed companies (with the federal government) is constantly geared towards oil exploration and production.

Nigeria's oil is classified primarily as "light" and "sweet" because the oil is largely free of sulfur. Nigeria is the largest producer of sweet oil at OPEC. This sweet oil has a composition similar to that of oil extracted from the North Sea. This crude oil is known as "Bonny light". The names of the other Nigerian crudes, all named after the export terminal, are Qua Ibo, a mixture of Escravos, Brass River, Forcados and Pennington Anfan.

Until 2010, Nigeria supplied about 10% of US oil imports and was the fifth largest oil import in the United States. However, Nigeria ceased exports to the United States in July 2014 due to the impact of shale production in the United States; India is now the largest consumer of Nigerian oil.

There are six oil export terminals in the country. Shell has two, while Mobil, Chevron, Texaco and Agip have one each. Shell also owns the Forcados terminal, which is capable of storing 13 million barrels (2,100,000 m3) of crude oil in conjunction with the neighboring Bonny terminal. Mobil operates primarily from the Qua Iboe terminal in Akwa Ibom State, while Chevron owns the Escravos Terminal in Delta State and has a storage capacity of 3.6 million barrels. (570,000 m3). Agip operates the Brass Terminal in Brass, a city 113 kilometers (70 miles) southwest of Port Harcourt with a storage capacity of 3,558,000 barrels (565,700 m3). Texaco operates the Pennington terminal.