The Federal Government has stated that Nigeria’s low crude oil output has negatively impacted on the implementation of both the capital and recurrent components of the 2017 budget.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated this while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on critical issues in the Nigerian petroleum industry.
Kachikwu said for about four months since the passage of the 2017 budget, Nigeria had consistently produced below the 2.2 million barrels benchmark stated in the document, noting however, that “We are still a bit within the price range.”
He said: “In terms of the budget impact, we used 2.2 million barrels as the benchmark in the budget, and in terms of the price cap, we are still within range; obviously, we have lost quite a lot of months, about four months which we did not produce what the budget stipulated.
“There is definitely going to be differentials. The Ministry of Finance is aggressively looking at ways to cover some of these shortfalls, part of that is efficiency,” He added.
