Nigeria has ranked 11th position on a top-20 list of countries with largest proven oil reserves, a publication by Insider Monkey has shown.
Despite the impressive attainment on the list, Nigeria’s crude oil reserve has remained stagnant at 37 billion barrels for the past 10 years due to low exploration for new discoveries
According to the report, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and other sources were used to sift out the largest countries with crude oil reserves as of 2021
Nigeria’s crude oil is one of the most preferred due to its low sulfuric content, and low corrosiveness to refinery infrastructure. It also has a lower environmental impact of its byproducts during the refinery process, putting its grade, Bonny Light as one of the most expensively priced and sold at the international market.
Key operators in the oil and gas sector have projected that Nigeria is well positioned not only to sustain its position as top oil producer in Africa but readjust upward its current status among 20 countries with largest oil reserves in 2021.
This is according to the latest report obtained from the energy information administration.
Despite the rank, Nigeria’s crude reserves remains at 37 billion barrels for the past 10 years due to low exploration for new discoveries, yet Nigeria crude oil is one of the most preferred due to its low sulfuric content and low corrosiveness to refineries infrastructure.
However, key operators in the oil and gas sector projected and Nigeria is well positioned to sustain its position and mop-up excess liquidity.
Nigeria’s reserves was put at 36.89 billion barrels in 2021 and reportedly produced 1.13 million barrels of oil in November 2022.
The United States of America, queued behind Nigeria with reserves of about 47.10 billion barrels of oil as of 2020, while the state of Libya boosts of 48.36 billion barrels in 2021.
Energy experts say Nigeria is well positioned to surpass its present reserves if right fiscal policies are put in place.
They further claim that if Nigeria is willing to cut production costs by rewarding operators through rebates, infrastructure development, and tax breaks, as is done in other countries, investment inflows into the business will open up new prospects for discoveries.
Remember that Angola produced more crude oil than Nigeria for the third month in a row, after Nigeria lost 74,000 barrels per day in July compared to June.
Despite an increase in output, Angola produced more crude oil than Nigeria in May and June.
According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ monthly report for July, Nigeria’s oil production fell by 74,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.08 million bpd in July from 1.26 million in June.
