Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources says he has never received a call from President Muhammadu Buhari asking him to allocate oil blocks.
Kachikwu made this statement while speaking at the 2018 Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, on Tuesday.
“One of the reasons why we have done so well is the fact that quite frankly, in my three years of serving as petroleum minister of state, I haven’t received a single call from the president urging me to do an allocation to somebody or give a block to somebody,” he said.
“I have not received such a call.”
The minister said oil demands will continue to increase explaining that electric cars only contribute two per cent of the instrument of mobility used.
“When we talk of other forces coming to replace oil, the truth remains that oil demands continue to increase. More oil wells are being discovered by the day.
“The reality even when people point at electric cars, they still represent only two per cent of the instrument of mobility today.
“According to the DPR we have oil in excess of 59 billion barrels which will at the current consumption rate last more than years.
“So, there is enough reason to feel that oil will be there for a long time, but the reality is that the performance within the oil sector will differ.
“It is not how long it lasts, but what value it brings to the populace – the owners of the resource, how we are able to utilise whatever we find.
“In 2017 alone, over 33 new mega projects, adding volumes of over 50 million barrels equivalents were sanctioned by the DPR.
“We are increasing barrels, 36.18 billion barrels of proven reserves of crude oil and condensates as of first quarter of 2018, adding a life index of over 50 years at a depletion rate of 1.9 per cent.”
