Nigeria’s strategic oil reserve, put at 36.2billion barrels, is expected to sustain her for the next 43 years, statistics have shown.

The statistics also show that the nation has the lowest reserve life span among the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The Federal Government had already set new oil targets of 40 billion barrels reserve and 4 million barrels per day production by 2010.
This is to be achieved through aggressive fields’ development via the award of various oil blocks in different licensing rounds to both existing, multinational and indigenous operators as well as new investors especially from China.
Reserve figures were not specified for Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, and Indonesia in the statistics obtained from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency’s Weekly Bulletin.
Iraq, with 115 billion barrels, has the longest reserve life span of 143 years; Kuwait, with 99 billion barrels has 108 years; the United Arab Emirate’s 97billion barrels will last for 107 years, and Iran’s 136 billion for 101 years.
Other OPEC member countries like Venezuela, with 80 billion barrels, will last for 91 years; Saudi Arabia’s 260 billion barrels for 81 years, and Libya’s 41.5 billion for 63 years.
Surprisingly, Nigeria is in the top league in terms of production capacity, ranking sixth among the 13-member OPEC countries with 2.25 million barrels per day capacity.
Among the 13-member cartel, Saudi Arabia has the highest daily production capacity of 8.80million b/d; followed by Iran with 3.70million b/d; Kuwait and the UAE, each with 2.50million b/d; Venezuela, 2.34million b/d; and Nigeria, 2.25million b/d.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose to a record above $102 a barrel as a weakening dollar spurred investors to buy commodities priced in the United States currency, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
(Source: modernghana.com)