Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Slyva, has said that the new oil discoveries
in the embattled Northeast zone of Nigeria have over one billion barrels of crude oil.
Sylva, who made the disclosure at the end of 2020 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja on Wednesday, said that oil search had been going on in the region for a decade in spite of the insurgency in the area.
“The figure we are getting, the jury is not totally out yet, but from the evaluation results we are getting the reserve that has been discovered in the northeast is about a billion barrels.
“These are the kind of figures we are seeing and we are beginning to understand the geological structure of the region,” he said.
According to him, a lot of oil is yet to be found in the country.
He added that there was need for more exploration in the country as more oil would be discovered.
Commenting on passing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by June, he said that he was confident that it would be passed based on cordial relationship between the legislature and the executive.
“We are banking on the fact today to make that promise on the fact that there is a very cordial relationship now between the legislature and executive.
”Today Nigerians all agree that there is a need for us to pass the PIB.
”For so long we have been quivering about the PIB, for more than 20 years. And for so long, we have not been able to attract a lot of investment into the oil sector,’’ he added.
MM/GIK/APA