Speaking at the house of representatives in Abuja on Monday, Kachikwu said the country is now producing at 1.4 million barrels per day, as against its former production level of 2.2 million barrels.
Advertisement
There is growing concern about the impact of the unrest on oil production at a time when the government is facing a cash crunch because of the global slump in crude prices. Last week, they warned oil firms to leave before the end of the month.
Attacks by the Niger Delta Avengers has caused a major drop in Nigeria’s oil output from 2.2m to 1.65m barrels per day.
Nigeria’s military high command have already responded by arresting some rebels believed to be members of the new Niger Delta militant group, the military said Monday.
This, he said, translated to loss of 800,000 barrels of oil by the country daily.
On its website, it says it is fighting for an independent state on behalf of the people of the Niger Delta and is prepared to “cripple Nigeria’s economy” in pursuit of its aims.
A spokesman for ENI said “sabotage” of the pipeline had affected 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Most of Nigeria’s oil wealth comes from the Niger Delta, an area which remains poor and underdeveloped.
“Nigerian output outages are part of a wider problem”, Ehsan Ul-Haq, principal consultant at KBC said.
Nigeria lost its place as Africa’s largest oil producer earlier in May.
A statement signed by the group’s Deputy Head, Strategy and Communication, Mr. Desmond Odiwrri, said: “These so-called Niger Delta Avengers do not stand for the Niger Delta people because nobody supports their senseless bombings and wilful vandalism of strategic national assets in their land”.
Since the Buhari administration ordered an arrest warrant for members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), including the ex-leader Government Ekpemupolo, the country has seen a spike in attacks on oil facilities this year.
Advertisement
The group is said to be intent on ending oil well ownership by forces outside of the region; as a result of its most recent attack, reports suggest Royal Dutch Shell was forced to evacuate staff from its Eja OML 79 production facility.
