Nigeria will have to increase his oil output by 900,000 barrels per day so as to regain the crude oil that has been shut in due to militant attacks on oil and gas installation in the Niger Delta, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu (photo), revealed.

According to Kachikwu, the Federal Government is continuing talks with militants and their representatives in the Niger Delta region and he is confident that in the next one or two months, a cease fire agreement will be arrived at.“There’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of security meetings and we expect that in the next one or two months, we will arrive at a lasting resolution on the problem in the Niger Delta. We are producing some 1.5 million barrels per day and would need on average 900,000 barrels per day to catch up on what we have lost. If we can achieve peace, this will be feasible,” he told This Day.

The Minister has said last week, that the country will pump not less than 1.5 million barrels a day of oil for this year as attacks by militants have damaged infrastructure including its biggest export terminal.He said the damages done to a pipeline connected to Nigeria’s Qua Iboe export terminal will take about four months to fix and Shell might be able to recommence shipments from the damaged Forcados terminal in mid-September.

Attacks since the beginning of this year, have made the Forcados, Brass River and Bonny Light terminals undergo declarations of force majeure. The Escravos terminal delayed shipments, following attacks on Chevron Corp. facilities and Exxon is weighing its options following damage to the 400,000 barrels a day Qua Iboe. Shell however, declared another force majeure on Bonny Light shipments last week Friday due to the shutdown of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line after a leak.

Anita Fatunji