NOG ENERGY WEEK: Ewariezi Useh speaks on how Aiteo is increasing oil output and reducing theft

Guardian Nigeria

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00:00relation on the rebranding thank you very much yes so what is really this

00:04rebranding all about well to answer this question I would like to take you back

00:09memory lane how we got here we all know about ITEO Eastern exploration and

00:15production company operators of webmail 29 jointly with an NBC joint venture

00:22company ITEO resumed operatorship of this concession well over ten years ago

00:28and with the challenges we're beginning to have any ninja Delta vandalization

00:37crude oil theft brought us to an all-time low I'm sure you had the minister in a

00:42presentation earlier today where production while we were producing

00:49delivery came to an all-time low of almost zero percent being received at the

00:54terminal this continued for a while and let the company into a total shutdown

01:02because it got to a point where we could not continue to bear the huge losses it

01:07was a survival situation and we thank God for the ingenuity the resilience and the

01:15guidance of our founder and executive vice-chairman Mr. Benedict Peters who

01:20drew his telling vision led us to that very trying period of about 18 months of

01:25non-production in that period we had to come up with a new way of doing things we

01:33could not continue with the old channel accrued to the NCTL had become a disaster for

01:39us as a company and with that in partnership with a third-party operator we

01:46started what you call an alternative evacuation system to alternatively

01:50evacuated the crude from our facilities all the way to offshore brass and so in

01:57doing that for the first time what had never happened in that area was a budging

02:01process now based on this sequence through the third party operator who

02:07partnered with us the president at that time and the federal government approved

02:13what you call the name be crude oil export terminal which was based located

02:18offshore brass for the receipt of our crude at about the same time towards the

02:25launch of what you call the name be crude oil blend as you recognize our crude

02:31usually part of the former body light baskets but with the new delivery pattern

02:36we're setting to play we now had the crude going to the name be crude oil export

02:41terminal being produced from nearby fields mostly from nearby fields and the

02:47crude was now named maybe crude oil which has been accepted internationally this

02:53could have been launched in Europe have been launched in Asia the launch in

02:56America and has received international recognition you know having that together

03:01it was only just a natural sequence you have a terminal which is never could

03:07you have a crude which is named a blend which is produced from the name be

03:12community and in recognition and identifying with the host community you

03:17know it was just a sequence that followed and so in the wisdom of the board and the

03:23various stakeholders it was seen as the next move for the company to officially

03:28rename our operations as name be exploration production and production

03:34company limited operators of for no 29 joint venture I think that that that

03:39history gives clarity security crisis in the northern region

03:43the first evaluation of food is still one major issue that we see how we show that

03:49this kind of situation will not affect the production I mean your production

03:54directly and then the level of production we see from

03:57across the Nigerian Delta where we produce Ahoy okay I would rather like to speak I

04:01would not speak for across the Nigerian I would like to speak from our own

04:05situation now we were one of those badly hit by the theft and vandalization and for the

04:16first time which was not which was novel to us we had to start with a badging

04:21process so what you've been doing for the last almost two years now is badging the crude

04:26we load we load we load we load them at a temporary facilities at nimbe in two

04:32badges which now go offshore brass to the terminal and for final export so we've been

04:40on the badging process and with the badging process for the first time I mean in ten years of

04:47being of our operatorship we are seeing our crude volumes end to end so we see what is produced

04:56what leaves dembe and what gets to the terminal have there been other pockets of thefts around yes

05:02we do six order of thefts occasionally we see a vandalization on some of our

05:06well heads we see some pipeline thefts here and there but I mean where we are now it's

05:13way different you know from where we are coming from for the first time I mean we're

05:19able to able to account for what goes into the badge and where it is discharged and the cost of

05:26production yes we still see little pockets of thefts around from time to time the government is doing a

05:31tremendous lot of help and we have continued to partner with the host communities as well

05:38and this is nimbe you have party to it you can't afford to let it go down as well it's that's your

05:45party to to this investments you know that is sensation we're going to share with the

05:50host communities and so jointly and collaboratively we're trying to bring this step to an all-time low

05:55for now I cannot tell it has been eradicated but we'll be able to bring to an all-time low in

06:01the cost of our production now so one critical challenge is the cost of oil production per se in

06:07nigeria it's literally one of the highest you can find in the world at some point we're looking

06:13at about 45 dollar to 48 dollar per barrel if what the revenue agencies are putting are really

06:21true and then here you are trying to budge your crude at what cost does it really affect your

06:27operation are you the one that came up with 45 dollars do you have your calculations what is

06:33the federal inland revenue told the lawmakers did they say that was a value for my tail from nimbe

06:38fields it is not directly your organization was mentioned yes i don't think those are figures i don't

06:44think those are those companies close to our figures however like i said we are budging to them the

06:50budging process is an interim one it's phase one we've called like i told you is an alternative on an

06:58alternate evacuation system so the first part is where we are on which is budging we are now going

07:03to transition from the budging to subsea pipeline uh which we are about commencing the subsea pipeline

07:11runs all the way from our facilities through the nimbe river through the subsea all the way down to um

07:22the brass all the way down to the brass terminal which would have as a final point of our evacuation

07:28process with that um of course um we expect that costs will drop tremendously tremendously because we

07:38will be reverting back to the pipeline system which is of course obviously cheaper than the budging system

07:44so it's transitional what we are doing and it's existential we need to exist the nation is the revenue

07:52at all costs there are no options right now if you have a better option i would like you to share it

07:56with me thank you so much for talking to us and i pray that everything works together and we are able

08:02to increase nigeria's production which we're already doing which we're already doing oh that's good yes

08:07we are about 60 000 barrels already um where the works we are doing with uh alternative evacuation

08:14as we move into the next phase you know we have a permanent um crude treatment coming up shortly

08:20as we've done the next phase we are going to grow to about 75 000 uh before year end and we are

08:26running up to our vision is to take production to 120 000 barrels minimum which is what we believe is a

08:34installed capacity and even much more so um we are in for the long run we are in in partnership

08:41with the government we believe in the vision of the government um my boss the executive vice

08:47chairman the founder of the company believes strongly in nigeria and has committed this all

08:52into this project and so in months to come i'm sure you'll be impressed with the things you will hear

08:57and you'll be here to see the figures yourself and i'm hoping that you will call for another interview

09:02when you see those figures rolling out thank you very much thank you so much thank you

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