Oil business in Nigeria continues long delay

ayodele johnson

February 18, 2016 8:32 AM

The number of oil and gas rigs in West Africa dropped by two thirds to 18 in December 2015, compared with the same month in 2014

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Nigeria and its counterpart from other countries in West Africa may continue to experience minimal activities in their oil ventures as production firms have put their projects on hold.

According to Reuters, development is likely to recover much more slowly in the region than elsewhere as a result of other problems plaguing the West African oil and gas landscape.

The region has been greatly challenged by high costs, and this includes Nigeria who has been long established in the business and also, Ghana.

READ: Nigeria's N159bn oil struggles for buyers

Already, Gabon has cut its 2016 budget because of low oil income and Ghana is considering doing the same.

African oil and gas project specialist at DrillingInfo, Andrew Hayman said, “There is no doubt that the amount of capital expenditure over the next five years will be severely reduced. From the bigger producers like Nigeria and Angola to the smaller producers, the capital will just not be available,”

The United Nations (UN) reports that, overall foreign direct investment in Central and West Africa, which includes major oil and gas projects, fell 44 per cent to $14.2bn last year, greater than the 31 per cent drop for Africa as a whole.

According to US-based oil service firm, Baker Hughes, the number of oil and gas rigs in the region dropped by two thirds to 18 in December 2015, compared with the same month in 2014.

ayodele johnson