00:00Production increase has been a critical challenge for Nigeria, critical in terms of budget revenue as well as also for most of the operators.
00:12Currently we are stock at about 1.4 million barrels per day and our target and the budget for Easter is about 2.06 million.
00:21We are far off. How do we actually unlock some of the field we have so we can increase production and meet up with a target both for open and then the budget?
00:32Okay, given the operational challenges we faced, we went out of production for over 12 months,
00:43which is a lot of credence to our shareholders and particularly the founder of the company Mr. Benedict Peters
00:54because it was out of his benevolence that we continued to remain as a company.
01:00So immediately upon coming back, we brought in starting from 30,000 barrels up to 60,000, 70,000 barrels.
01:10But we do have capacity to produce between 90,000 barrels a day. We had done that before.
01:19We did that at the early stages of our operation in around about 2016, 2017. We had done 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
01:34So we have the capacity to do that. The other challenge where both the government and the joint venture partners
01:42we need to intervene is you need to make a lot of investment to get all this crude out.
01:49But rest assured, at the moment, we are doing about 60,000 barrels a day.
01:55And in the near future, when we complete our permanent evacuation system, we have plans to get up to 100,000 barrels.
02:05So we are very critical in the equation to get Nigeria to the over 2 million barrels a day capacity production.
02:15So from what you are saying, strategically, infrastructure, particularly pipeline and terminals,
02:21are the critical challenge that we are having in terms of increasing production.
02:24Is it the same thing across other fields within the Niger Delta?
02:30Okay. I cannot speak for other companies, but I can speak to the extent that we are the operators of a major critical oil infrastructure in Nigeria
02:43called the Nembe Creek Trunk Line. It's a 600,000 barrels a day capacity pipeline.
02:49And we have five other third-party producers injecting into that, and we are the operators.
02:57Now, that was the line that got vandalized and damaged severally.
03:04And that's what led to our stoppage of operations at some stage and the creation of a new evacuation system.
03:12Obviously, all the other injectors had to look for alternative ways to remain afloat.
03:18So in a nutshell, I would say that the infrastructure challenge is literally nationwide.
03:26Okay?
03:27So, and that's where we look up to the authorities to ensure that security is restored within the operating environment,
03:37and so that production can increase.
03:41Yeah. Just very lastly, you spoke to the fact that you were losing close to like about 70-80%
03:46at some point because of vandalism.
03:48What is the current rate of what you are seeing at the terminal?
03:53Well, right now, because we now evacuate through a dedicated terminal, we created an alternative system,
04:03temporary as it is. So we budge our production, and our losses are less than 5%, near zero.
04:13Essentially, just normal line losses, not the theft, which was the key issue.
04:20Now, we are building a pipeline that will then eliminate the budging option,
04:26but will still go to the terminal, and that is when we expect our production in the medium term
04:37to get to 100-120,000 barrels a day.
04:42Congratulations. Transiting or changing of name from ITO, and now we have NEMBE Exploration.
04:51What does it really mean? Why the change of name? Is it a change of name that would translate
04:56into something significant for the nation?
04:58Oh, sure. Thanks for the question. Let's step back a bit.
05:03The ITO Group still exists because it's a multi-sectoral business entity.
05:11When ITO went for the OML29 acquisition, it was under the ITO Eastern EMP Limited.
05:23So having done that, and then secured the asset and operated it, and then also established and achieved a lot of milestones,
05:35and now facing the very difficult operating environment of oil theft, which got as high as 90% at some time,
05:47we went into a strategic partnership with another company to build an alternative evacuation system for us.
05:57So that resulted into the NEMBE Crude Oil Export Terminal.
06:04Now we operate from NEMBE. It's our heartland.
06:09Even though we have 12 fields within the license area, a lot of our production today comes from within the NEMBE AXIS.
06:19And we started to produce and export through the NEMBE terminal, and then created a new crude grid for Nigeria called the NEMBE Crude Grid.
06:35So it just makes sense for identity purposes that we harmonize that.
06:43So we then changed the ITO Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited, which is the operator of OML29, into NEMBE Exploration and Production Company Limited.
06:56So today, you have a NEMBE Exploration and Production Company Limited producing the NEMBE Great Crude out of Nigeria,
07:07and exporting through the NEMBE Export Crude Terminal, and operating from the NEMBE community.
07:16So that way, when you hear NEMBE, it's one NEMBE that covers all this. So that's the change of name.
07:24But the group still exists, as ITO Group, with other business interests in other parts of the world, Africa, and even Nigeria.
