Nigeria oil reserves down 4.8% due to lull in exploration: DPR

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Nigeria's crude oil reserves stood at 31.81 billion barrels at the end of
the second quarter, down 4.8% year on year due to the lull in exploration
activities by oil companies operating in the country, the Department of
Petroleum Resources said in a report released Wednesday.

"During the period under review...oil reserves was at 31.81 billion
barrels of oil. Compared to same period last year, the oil reserves dropped by
1.6 billion barrels or 4.79%," the DPR reported said.

"The decrease was due to companies relenting in exploration activities
and full field studies but rather concentrating on development drilling and
production," the DPR stated.

Foreign oil companies including Shell, Chevron and Eni that produce the
bulk of Nigeria's crude oil have been upfront about the fact that they were
withholding investment in exploration due to the controversy surrounding
Nigeria's bid to introduce new petroleum legislation.

Shell said earlier this year that more than $40 billion of investments in
the Nigerian oil and gas industry was at risk because of the lopsided
Petroleum Industry Bill, which in its present form leaves the oil companies
with little scope for profit from their investments.

DPR, the nation's oil industry monitor, further alerted that Africa's top
oil producer was depleting its oil reserves at the rate of 2.81% based on
estimated annual production volume of 894.79 million barrels, with the
remaining oil reserves indicating a life index of 35.55 years.

The DPR statistics showed that Nigeria's oil production including
condensates averaged 2.35 million b/d in the second quarter 2010, with the
highest output of 2.405 million b/d achieved in June.

The country recorded production shut-ins of 274,915 b/d of oil due to
technical problems.
--Staff, newsdesk@platts.com