The Group Managing Director, Obijackson Group and Chairman of Neconde Energy, Dr Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, has said that some indigenous firms are targeting between 90,000 and 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in the next five years, The Nation reports.
The Obijackson Group owns Nestoil and Neconde Energy, the operator oil mining lease (OML) 42, which has a joint venture with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Neconde bought the divested equity shares off Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
Azudialu-Obiejesi said indigenous oil firms, such as Seplat, Neconde, Nestoil,and Oando, are producing between 30,000 and 70,000 barrels of oil per day, adding that the firms are aiming at 100,000bpd and ultimately becoming big players in the industry.
He said when this happens, the indigenous operators would find it easier to go into other African countries, such as Ghana, Kenya and Angola, to buy oil fields and develop them. Azudialu-Obiejesi said the development could also place indigenous oil firms in vantage position to become oil majors.