The Minister of? Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke has said that the country had no plans to reform its state oil company NNPC and the way its crude oil was sold.
Speaking with journalists at an OPEC meeting in Vienna? yesterday, the minister said “the issue of changing the way we sell our oil has been looked at by NNPC who do not feel there is a major problem with that.”
Nigeria’s government has come under intense pressure to clean up the energy sector after public anger over corruption and waste of the country’s oil wealth surfaced during January protests over fuel prices.
A study published by the former head of the anti-corruption agency, Nuhu Ribadu showed that some $5 billion in potential revenue had been lost between 2002-2011 because state oil firm NNPC had been selling itself oil at cut-down prices.
Alison-Madueke while noting that there were no current plans to reform the NNPC’s operations said, “We will look at the entire results of the report on balance and ensure it is implemented according to the government white paper.”
She said Nigeria was producing around 2.4 million to 2.5 million barrels per day and output should remain at similar levels next year.