Nigeria, Others Emerge Top 3 Nations With Highest Oil Discoveries in 2023

Nigeria has been ranked among the top three nations in terms of the largest oil reserves ever discovered, thanks to investments by stakeholders from 2023. The others are Guyana and Turkey, according to Rystad Energy.

The company, which conducts energy studies, predicted that by 2023, global investment in conventional oil and gas development will exceed $50 billion.

To focus on attractive areas with a solid geological understanding, upstream corporations are carefully diverting their efforts toward offshore projects.

Legit.ng earlier reported that TotalEnegies has made a significant oil and gas discovery in the Ntokon offshore of its OML 102.

Recall that former President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the Wadi-B oil and gas exploration drive in the Jere Local government area of Borno State on Tuesday, May 23, 2022.

The initiative aimed to add 30 billion barrels of oil to Nigeria’s reserves in the next seven years.

Businesses taking advantage of the rising demand

In its report, Aatisha Mahajan, vice president of upstream research at Rystad Energy, said this is a period of uncertainty for upstream businesses.

He, however, said the sector is keen on taking advantage of the rising demand for fossil fuels and discovering new resources.

The report shows that Guyana's Stabroek offshore block leads in discovered volumes, with 603 MMboe in 2023, followed by Turkey with 380 MMboe, Nigeria with 296 MMboe, and Namibia with 287 MMboe.

Mahajan noted that offshore discoveries are spread relatively evenly between ultra-deepwater, deepwater and shelf finds.

However, he noted that increased activity in the remainder of 2023 is expected, especially in the ultra-deepwater market, with projected growth of 27% versus 2022 in terms of spud wells.

ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni, and Chevron are just a few of the international majors that are anticipated to direct a total of $7 billion in exploratory projects in 2023, making up more than half of the spending.

Nigeria's economic growth in the first quarter of 2023 was 2.4% year over year (y-o-y), according to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)'s August 2023 report.

This was against a growth of 3.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022, an indicator of 2023 anticipated slowdown. According to the report, after Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.3 per cent in 2022, it is forecast to decelerate in 2023.

It said high inflation continued to burden Nigeria’s economy.

A combination of factors including conflict, the impact of climate change, population pressures, and the below-average output of the agricultural sector, exacerbated the scarcity of food resources over recent years.

More Money For Tinubu as Nigeria Earns N1.68 Trillion From Oil in One Month, Maintains Top Spot in Africa

Legit.ng earlier reported that Nigeria's crude oil revenues increased to over N1.68 trillion in June 2023 as the country shored up its output last month, according to an analysis of oil production figures released by the federal government.

Data released by Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Thursday, July 13, 2023, showed that crude oil production rose to 1,248,960 million barrels daily.

The report showed that Nigeria produced 1,183691 million barrels of crude oil daily in May, 65,269 barrels lower than in June.

Source: Legit.ng