ABUJA, Feb 22: Nigerian oil minister Edmund Daukoru said that exploration had raised the country's oil reserves to about 35 billion barrels from five billion barrels in 1999, and that production capacity was rising.

“Reserves now stand at about 35 billion barrels and this underpins a steady growth in production capacity,” Daukoru told a news conference here.

Nigeria's production capacity now stood at about three million barrels per day, following the addition of 500,000 barrels in 2005-06.

“Nigeria's production capacity growth between 2005 and 2010 is estimated at about six per cent annually. This compares with other major producing countries, which have an average capacity growth of about three per cent annually in the same time period,” he added.

Nigeria, the biggest producer of crude in Africa and a leading member of the Opec oil cartel, exports about 2.6 million barrels per day, but a quarter of that figure is currently lost because of unrest in the volatile Niger delta.

Daukoru said that Nigeria, compared with other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, expected unprecedented growth and the highest level of upstream investment between 2005 and 2010.

“Specifically, between 2007 and 2010, total industry spending is estimated at about $100 billion - an average of $20 billion annually, up from $5 billion in 2000 and $10bn in 2006,” he said.

The minister said the unrest in the Niger delta, where dozens of foreign workers have been taken hostage by separatist groups in the past year, would not affect the volume of investment planned for the area.

“We are talking about long-time decisions, I really don’t think it should affect investment,” Daukoru said. —AFP