By Energy Worth
About 160 projects, with an overall estimated cost of some $156 billion, are being undertaken by members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in the oil and gas upstream sector.
Besides, Nigeria, a member of OPEC, expects oil and gas investment to hit $40 billion in the next five years.
OPEC, which made this known its upstream investment plans that was released recently, said that regardless of all the challenges and uncertainties, OPEC members continue to invest in additional upstream capacities.
It added that on top of the huge capacity maintenance costs that member countries are faced with, they continue to invest in new projects and reinforce their commitment to the oil and gas market as well as to the security of supply for all consumers. “Needless to say, this is only a reflection of OPEC’s well-known policy that is clearly stated in its Long-Term Strategy and its Statute,” it added.
The Secretary General, OPEC, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, said that OPEC members were committed to invest in existing and new production capacity.
According to him, OPEC remained unswerving in its commitment to meeting the future requirements of consumers in a timely and sustainable manner.He stated: “At the global level, however, the situation that has evolved over the past two years or so is putting this future at risk given the dramatic drop off in investments.Global oil and gas exploration and production spending fell by around 26 per cent in 2015 and a further 22 per cent drop is anticipated this year.Combined, this equates to above $300 billion.
“If market and financial conditions do not improve, there is the distinct possibility that we could see a third year of investment cutbacks. To put this into some oil industry context, there has never been a consecutive three-year decline in its history.
“This is a major concern for an industry that needs regular and predictable investments to provide the necessary supply in the medium- and longer terms.“It is why we at OPEC have been undertaking intensive consultations over the past few months about how best to return stability to the market.”
Speaking recently on the investment opportunities in Nigeria oil sector, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said: “There are major plan, there are opportunities in the oil sector for investment. We have been able to, through a lot of struggle, change the funding capacity for the upstream and that had sort of energized investors in the upstream sector.
“Now, we are beginning to see projects like Egina, worth $15 billion; Zabazaba, $10 billion; Bonga, $10 billion and the likes. So many other investment, put at over $40 billion potential investments over the next five years if we do the right thing, set the right models and set the right policies. That is very key and that is coming from a country where investments had run away for nearly seven to 10 years.”
