{"id":1943,"date":"2017-11-08T04:46:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T04:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/?p=1943"},"modified":"2017-11-08T04:47:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T04:47:20","slug":"more-oil-money-needed-in-nigerdelta-to-avert-new-conflict-kachikwu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/more-oil-money-needed-in-nigerdelta-to-avert-new-conflict-kachikwu\/","title":{"rendered":"More oil money needed in NigerDelta to avert new conflict – Kachikwu"},"content":{"rendered":"
NOVEMBER 8, 2017<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re constrained by cash,\u201d Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the minister of state for petroleum, told Reuters in an interview on Monday when discussing efforts to develop the Delta. \u201cWe\u2019ve scurried around for some money just to begin the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister said the government needed to develop its oil and economy to deliver on promises of more cash for the Delta, which rights groups say has long suffered from pollution and poor investment despite being the source for much of Nigeria\u2019s oil output of around 2 million barrels per day (bpd).<\/p>\n
Kachikwu said a return to violence by the militants would be \u201cmutually destructive\u201d, adding: \u201cI am sure that like they did the last time, when they see a concrete action plan they would listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attacks in the oil producing region drove Nigeria\u2019s oil output down to close to 1 million bpd. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting granted Nigeria an exemption from a global deal to curb output to help it recover.<\/p>\n
In its race to rebuild, Kachikwu said Shell and Eni should press on with developing oil prospecting licence (OPL) 245. The $1.3 billion award of the block in 2011 is subject to corruption investigations and court cases. The firms deny wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been allocated, and there are development plans for it (the block) and those development plans should go forward,\u201d Kachikwu said. \u201cThe development of assets should not suffer because we are dealing with a legacy transparency issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister said he intended to launch a \u201croadmap\u201d in January inviting investors to fund repairs and upgrades to pipelines and oil depots, mirroring efforts that aim to draw $1.5 billion to $2 billion into Nigeria\u2019s ailing refineries.<\/p>\n
Kachikwu said the plans would not involve selling state-owned stakes but attracting private capital was essential.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have the resources, and we don\u2019t have the time to raise the resources, to revamp the sector,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nigeria has called for early talks to renew oil licenses held by Shell, Total and others. Licences for several key fields expire in two years and oil firms are typically reluctant to make big investments without long-term assurances.<\/p>\n
Kachikwu said such talks could be concluded by the first quarter of next year, although negotiations that are handled by the Department of Petroleum Resources had not yet started.<\/p>\n
Writing by Libby George; Editing by Edmund Blair for Reuters<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NOVEMBER 8, 2017 \u00a0(Reuters) – Nigeria\u2019s oil minister will visit the Niger Delta this week in a bid to stave off a threat of more Niger Delta militant insurgent attacks in the area, and said that without more investment it would be a struggle to ease tensions and develop its main crude producing region. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n