The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has urged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to intensify efforts in facilitating investments, particularly in deepwater oil and gas projects, to ensure Nigeria remains competitive in the global energy market.
The call was made by NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, in an interview published on Wednesday in The Upstream Gaze, a special edition of the NUPRC’s in-house magazine marking the Commission’s fourth anniversary.
Ojulari commended the Commission for key milestones over the past four years, including the digitalisation of licensing processes, improved crude measurement systems, successful bid rounds that attracted new investors, and progress in gas flare commercialisation and domestic gas supply obligations.
However, he stressed the need for the regulator to go further by enhancing regulatory efficiency and deepening investor confidence.
“Going forward, I would urge the Commission to continue to prioritise investment facilitation, especially around deep-water projects, and to create even more efficient regulatory approval cycles. The global competition for capital is fierce, and Nigeria must remain attractive to investments,” Ojulari said.
Earlier this year, the NUPRC unveiled plans to unlock an additional 810,000 barrels of crude oil per day from deepwater fields through a new cluster and nodal development initiative. If fully implemented, the plan could raise Nigeria’s total production including condensates to around 2.51 million barrels per day, boosting revenue and compliance with OPEC+ targets.
Speaking on NNPCL’s investment outlook, Ojulari said his administration’s priorities include making gas a transition fuel, growing national production, and ensuring domestic energy security.
“We plan to unlock Nigeria’s over 200 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves to drive power generation, industrial growth, and exports,” he said.
He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to President Bola Tinubu’s directive to raise national oil output to three million barrels per day and gas production to 12 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2030.
Ojulari noted that these goals would be achieved through a mix of brownfield and greenfield projects, new Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) in deepwater, and frontier basin exploration.
He emphasised that continued collaboration with the NUPRC remains critical, noting that NNPCL and its partners currently account for over 95 per cent of national production.
The NNPCL boss also highlighted the company’s recent reforms, including the establishment of the NNPC Production War Room, an Industry-Wide Security Architecture, and Periodic Industry Leadership Engagements, which have collectively improved operational efficiency and reduced oil theft.
“The War Room, launched in mid-2024, has been a major success, streamlining processes, resolving production bottlenecks, and sustaining base production,” he said.
Ojulari added that enhanced coordination among security contractors, government agencies, regulators, and host communities has improved crude evacuation and reduced pipeline vandalism, lifting Nigeria’s average production to over 1.7 million barrels per day, the highest since 2020.
On refining and downstream operations, he disclosed that NNPCL is finalising the rehabilitation of its refineries and strengthening partnerships with private refiners such as Dangote Refinery and modular operators.
“Our goal goes beyond numbers. It’s about energy security, job creation, and building a vibrant downstream sector,” Ojulari said.
He reaffirmed NNPCL’s alignment with the Presidential Mandate to attract $60 billion in new oil and gas investments by 2030, stressing that continued cooperation between NNPCL and NUPRC is vital to achieving Nigeria’s production and energy transition ambitions.
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