The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has called on the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to intensify its investment facilitation efforts, especially in deepwater projects, to ensure Nigeria remains competitive in the global energy market.
Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, made the appeal in an interview published on Wednesday in The Upstream Gaze, a special edition of the NUPRC’s in-house publication commemorating the Commission’s fourth anniversary.
Ojulari commended the NUPRC for major achievements over the past four years, including the digitalisation of licensing and regulatory processes, enhanced crude oil metering systems, successful bid rounds that attracted new investors, and progress in gas flare commercialisation and domestic gas supply.
However, he urged the Commission to further strengthen its regulatory efficiency and bolster investor confidence in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas sector.
“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 Commission announced plans to unlock an additional 810,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Nigeria’s deepwater fields through a cluster and nodal development initiative — a move that could raise the country’s total output to about 2.51 million barrels per day with condensates if fully implemented.
Speaking on NNPCL’s strategic focus, Ojulari said the company aims to position gas as a transition fuel, boost national oil and gas production, and enhance 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 stated.
Ojulari reaffirmed NNPCL’s commitment to achieving President Bola Tinubu’s directive to raise national crude oil output to three million barrels per day and gas production to 12 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2030.
He explained that these targets would be met through a mix of brownfield and greenfield projects across onshore and shallow-water terrains, accelerating deepwater final investment decisions, and exploring frontier basins.
Ojulari also highlighted that ongoing reforms within the company including the establishment of the NNPC Production War Room, the Industry-Wide Security Architecture, and periodic leadership engagements have improved production efficiency and reduced oil theft.
“The War Room, launched in mid-2024, has been a major success story, streamlining processes, resolving production bottlenecks, and sustaining base production,” he said.
He added that better coordination between private security firms, government agencies, and host communities had helped increase crude evacuation efficiency and reduce vandalism, lifting Nigeria’s average daily crude and condensate output to over 1.7 million barrels the highest since 2020.
Ojulari also reaffirmed NNPCL’s dedication to boosting domestic refining capacity, noting that refinery rehabilitation and strategic partnerships with private refiners such as Dangote Refinery and modular operators were well underway.
“Our goal goes beyond numbers. It’s about energy security, job creation, and building a vibrant downstream sector,” he said.
He concluded by emphasizing that NNPCL remains aligned with the presidential target of attracting $60 billion in new oil and gas investments by 2030, underscoring the importance of continued collaboration with the NUPRC to achieve Nigeria’s energy transition goals.
