The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday said that it had been able to reduce the cost of producing a barrel of crude oil to $20.

A statement issued by the corporation said “additional measures have been put in place to further reduce the cost to $15 per barrel.”

The corporation also announced that it had signed four Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with state governments for the production of biofuel to complement the volume of petrol being supplied across the country.

According to the statement, the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, made this known during the ongoing Science Fair holding in Abuja.

Represented by the NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Mohammed Seidu, Mr. Baru noted that the reduction in crude production cost would lead to an increase in the federal government ’s revenue.

“What the NNPC will like Nigerians to know is the drive we are making to bring down the cost of producing oil,” he said .

“The more we bring down the production cost of oil and gas, the more money that comes eventually to the federal government and the pockets of the state and local governments.

“We have been innovative in our work to bring down the cost. Many Nigerians don’t even know that we started the local content drive. We have brought down the cost of producing a barrel of oil today to the neighbourhood of $20 and our target is to make sure we are at $15, and we continue to march forward.”

Commenting on biofuel production, the NNPC boss stated that aside crude oil and gas production, the oil firm was also into the propagation of “other fuels”.

The NNPC boss said the corporation has signed an MoU with state governments in that area.

“Of course,” he said, “that is another area. There is little that people know, that we are not only propagating oil and gas, but we also make sure that we promote biofuels and other more efficient fuels in the country.

“What we have done today is to sit down in the driver ’s seat, not necessarily as the investor, but to make sure that the people that are coming in are on board. Today , we have signed four MoUs with state governments to roll out initiatives around the biofuels.”

He also disclosed that efforts are underway to train Nigerians who would take over the operations of the country’s refineries when fully rehabilitated.

PREMIUM TIMES recalls that in August 2017, the corporation said that it had reduced the cost of crude oil production from $78 per barrel as of August 2015 to $23 per barrel.