Stakeholders have expressed concerns over increasing depleting rate of Nigeria’s crude reserves which was put at 37.2 billion barrels.

Addressing journalists at the recently concluded Offshore West African International Conference and Exhibition (OWA 2012), the Managing Director, Total Exploration and Production Nigeria, Mr  Guy Maurice, the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCO), Chike Onyejekwe, and other stakeholders urged the Federal Government to boost exploration activities to guarantee the industry’s future.

Maurice, who was represented by the Executive Director, Corporate Goesciences and Business, Kingsley Ojoh said: “It is important to note that we must explore, if we want to continue from where we stopped. Exploration is the key to the country’s future, it is important for exploration to be encouraged, because there is need for replenishment.

“We were doing 67 wells in the 1960s and now it has declined to three. What is going on is catastrophic. Exploration is going down because those wells you are seeing were based on exploration we have done in the past. If we start aggressive exploration now, and delaying the decision to put them on stream, we have future that may be jeopardized.

“I don’t want to be the last generation that will experience exploration in Nigeria, there is necessity for the authority to take a decision that will harness instant exploration. There is need to promote aggressive exploration because production is cash flow basically, but exploration is the future. Compared to Brazil, Nigeria’s future is not as easy because there has been no reserve replacement.”

Besides, the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCO), Chike Onyejekwe, said Shell had done a lot of investment in the industry as well as pioneering some technologies that had significantly boosted the industry performance, but noted that there was need for a stable operating environment.

He said: “We are proud of these initiatives and  would like to do more. But we need a stable environment. The legal, commercial and regulatory frameworks are around and any industry will either be a dampener or an enabler to the growth of that industry and the deepwater cannot be an exception to this rule.