Global Energy Acceleration Challenges Nigeria’s Oil, Gas Assets Optimisation

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), had said global energy acceleration is challenging Nigeria’s oil and gas assets optimisation.

This is even as the Centre has commenced campaign to promote policies that will attract investment in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas industry.

The Centre said the country should take strong regulatory measures to ensure stronger optimisation of vast hydrocarbon resources the country is endowed.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of the centre, Dr Muda Yusuf, while appraising the upstream oil and gas sector, said Nigeria must urgently ramp up crude oil and gas production by implementing policies that attract fresh investments across onshore and offshore assets.

This, he said, is particularly critical as the global energy transition accelerates, noting that, Nigeria must maximise the value of its hydrocarbon endowments while the opportunity still exists.

Yusuf, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the recent reset of Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory architecture through the appointment of new chief executive officers for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

These appointments, in his opinion, present a strategic opportunity to reposition the oil and gas regulatory environment in line with the administration’s commitment to energy sovereignty, energy security, self-reliance and accelerated production growth.

According to Yusuf, the new leadership of Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory institutions must urgently refocus sector priorities on reducing import dependence, expanding domestic capacity and catalysing investment across the entire oil and gas value chain.

The NUPRC, he said should prioritise production growth, investment facilitation and improved security, with a clear national objective of raising crude oil output to a minimum of two million barrels per day through close collaboration with industry stakeholders.

Expanded investment in gas production must also be a central focus. Ensuring Compliance with domestic crude supply obligations to domestic refineries must be a priority.

These strategic imperatives, he emphasised, must define the direction of Nigeria’s new petroleum regulatory leadership if the sector is to drive sustainable growth, industrialisation, and long-term economic resilience effectively, Yusuf added.