Under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, Nigeria has managed to secure significant investment commitments totaling $13 billion in its oil and gas sector. Olu Verheijen, the special adviser on energy to the President, reported this achievement.
Verheijen said that she has partnered with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and they have recently met in Lagos and Abuja with representatives of 15 prominent oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, Shell, and NAOC, among others, to secure their commitment to invest in Nigerian oil and gas.
“We are faced with a revenue crisis that is impacting all Nigerians. To urgently address this, President Bola Tinubu is actively seeking ways to grow revenue and forex to stabilize our economy and currency, and the oil and gas sector remains critical to our ability to do so despite current production levels falling significantly short of our potential,” Verheijen said.
One of the key objectives of the discussions with the 15 major oil and gas companies was, reportedly, to advance a presidential initiative focused on tackling the nation’s revenue crisis while also playing a role in stabilizing Nigeria’s economy. According to the Office of the Special Adviser on Energy, these discussions unveiled substantial investment prospects, with a projected total of $55.2 billion in investments anticipated by 2030, of which $13.5 billion is expected to be invested by these companies within twelve months from now.
Nigeria is currently producing approximately 1 million barrels per day less than its potential capacity. The government attributes this shortfall to factors such as insufficient investments, limited funding sources due to the energy transition, and security concerns. During consultations, it was emphasized that certain key factors need to be in place to achieve a production level of 2.1 million barrels by December 2024, surpassing President Tinubu’s campaign commitment of 2.6 million barrels by 2027.
