Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday, stated that Nigeria’s crude oil output had risen to around 1.9 million barrels per day. Kachikwu also disclosed that the country would pay the $5.1 billion Joint Venture Cash call arrears owed International Oil Companies, IOCs, within a five-year time frame. Due to the activities of vandals and militants in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s crude oil output had dropped to as low as around 900,000 barrels per day, a far cry from the 2.2 million barrels per day benchmark in the 2016 budget. Speaking during the inaugural meeting of the National Council for Hydrocarbon in Abuja, Kachikwu stated that the vandalism of the Forcados pipeline negatively impacted on the country’s crude oil output, noting that the issue was currently being addressed. He said: “In terms of crude oil output, we are still not where we should be. These days, […]