By Edith Ike-Eboh Abuja, Feb. 9, 2021 The Federal Government has inaugurated the Nigerian Upstream Cost optimisation Programme (NUCOP) to drive down the cost of crude oil production in the country. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, at the inauguration on Tuesday in Abuja said that cost reduction of crude oil production would help Nigeria remain competitive in the global market. “NUCOP is aimed at optimising our upstream operation expenses through process enhancement and industry collaboration. “One of the top priority areas given to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources under the Next Level agenda of Mr President is the reduction of the price crude oil extraction cost.