Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for Petroleum Resources, says COVID-19 had helped to reduce the cost of crude oil production in the country.
“We have reduced the cost of production successfully.
“Recently, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Department of Petroleum Resources have launched programmes on cost reduction and it has impacted the sector.
“Both programmes have helped to bring down the cost of production, but what also helped us in reducing the cost of production is from a very unlikely quarter and that is COVID-19.
“With COVID-19, oil prices crashed and a lot of contracts were rationalised and we had to renegotiate. So, we were able at that point to get everybody on board to reduce the cost of production.
“Also, the fact that a lot of expatriates left because of COVID-19 made our locals to step in, and of course, the locals are cheaper and we had to find local solutions to some of our problems.
“So, on the whole, we were able to significantly bring down the cost of production even beyond five percent and our target now is not just five percent, but we are targeting 10 percent,’’ Sylva said, while briefing newsmen in Abuja, on Tuesday, August 16, 2021.
