The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has urged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to strengthen its investment facilitation role, particularly in deepwater oil projects, to ensure Nigeria remains competitive in the global energy market.
The 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 key milestones achieved over the past four years, including the digitalisation of regulatory processes, improved crude oil measurement systems, successful bid rounds, and progress in gas flare commercialisation and domestic gas supply obligations.
He, however, emphasised the need for the Commission to deepen investor confidence and enhance regulatory efficiency.
“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 PUNCH reported that the NUPRC unveiled plans to unlock an additional 810,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Nigeria’s deepwater oil fields through a new cluster and nodal development initiative — a move that could raise national crude production and strengthen fiscal revenues.
Speaking on NNPCL’s investment outlook, Ojulari said the company is focused on making gas Nigeria’s transition fuel, boosting oil and gas production, and enhancing 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.
He reaffirmed NNPCL’s commitment to delivering President Bola Tinubu’s mandate of raising national crude 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 targets will be achieved through brownfield and greenfield projects, accelerated deepwater Final Investment Decisions (FIDs), and frontier basin exploration, supported by NUPRC’s continued regulatory backing.
He revealed that NNPCL’s internal reforms are already yielding results through initiatives such as the NNPC Production War Room, the Industry-Wide Security Architecture, and Periodic Industry Leadership Engagements, which have collectively improved production efficiency, collaboration, and oil theft reduction.
“The War Room, launched in mid-2024, has been a major success story, streamlining processes, resolving production bottlenecks, and sustaining base production,” he said.
Ojulari added that enhanced coordination among private security firms, government agencies, and host communities has helped lift Nigeria’s average crude and condensate output to over 1.7 million barrels per day, the highest since 2020.
He also reiterated NNPCL’s commitment to refinery rehabilitation, private sector partnerships, and expanding logistics infrastructure to ensure long-term energy security.
“Our goal goes beyond numbers. It’s about energy security, job creation, and building a vibrant downstream sector,” he added.
Ojulari concluded that NNPCL remains aligned with the Presidential Mandate to attract $60 billion in new oil and gas investments by 2030, stressing that sustained collaboration with NUPRC will be crucial to achieving Nigeria’s production growth and energy transition objectives.
