Oil reserves in Nigeria

Although Libya has more reserves, there were 37.2 billion barrels (5.91×10⁹ m³) of proven oil reserves in Nigeria as of 2011, ranking the country as the largest oil producer in Africa and the 11th largest in the world, averaging 2.28 million barrels per day (362×10³ m³/d) in 2006. At current rates this would be 45 years of supply if no new oil was found. Pipeline vandalism, kidnappings, and militant takeover of oil facilities have reduced production, which could be increased to 3 million barrels per day (480×10³ m³/d) in the absence of such problems. The Nigerian government hopes to increase oil production capacity to 4 Mbbl/d (640×10³ m³/d) by 2010. Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest exporter of crude oil and no longer sends 43% of its exports to the United States due to the recent shale boom of the US. The Oil industry accounts for about 14% of Nigeria's economy. Therefore, though the petroleum sector is important, it remains in fact a small part of the country's overall vibrant and diversified economy.^[1] However, Nigeria's foreign exchange is heavily dependent on the oil sector, which accounts for majority of its export revenues.^[2]

Prospective resources

Nigeria and São Tomé have an agreement in which the Joint Development Authority was created to explore and produce oil in the waters between Sao Tome and Nigeria. Nigeria and Sao Tome share this area, called the Joint Development Zone, or JDZ. This area could contain up to, or over, 14 billion barrels of oil. In 2006, Chevron drilled an exploratory well called OBO-1 and news reports came out that they had discovered over a thousand million barrels of oil in block 1 alone. The news was reported on CNN and AP.

References

1. "A closer look at Nigeria's GDP rebasing". cnbc Africa. 12 February 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
2. "Nigeria" (PDF). Country Analysis Briefs. US Energy Information Administration. August 2011. Retrieved 2012-07-10.

http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/167.htm