Enhanced Oil Production Key To Nigeria’s Economic Diversification – Elumelu

Founder of Heirs Energies, Tony Elumelu, has said Nigeria must ramp up oil production to generate revenue for economic diversification.

“We want to take it to over 2 million. We know that we need oil money to diversify Nigeria away from oil. And we need to have the money to help develop our country at the 2025 Heirs Energies Petroleum Industry Leadership Forum in Abuja,” Elumelu stated on Thursday at the 2025 Heirs Energies’s petroleum industry leadership forum in Abuja.

The business tycoon also underscored the necessity of substantial investments in the oil and gas industry to drive industrialisation and bolster energy security.

Nigeria has struggled for years to meet its Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota for daily crude oil production owing to official corruption that has engendered massive crude oil theft in the Delta region. Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s oil production fell below 1 million barrels per day (bpd). Nigeria largely depends on oil revenue to finance its fiscal obligations.

However, production has since climbed to 1.8 million bpd under the current administration. Despite this progress, Elemule believes there is still room for improvement and called for collaboration among policymakers and industry players to further boost output.
He told journalists on the sidelines of the forum that “We cannot industrialise Africa, Nigeria, without improving access to energy and electricity in particular.”

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Recently, Nigeria met its OPEC-assigned production quota of 1.5 million bpd for the first time since it was set for the 2024 period. The country’s average daily crude oil output increased significantly to 1.53 million bpd in January, signaling a positive shift for the industry.

“We are happy that under the current Tinubu administration, in general, we produce 1.8 million barrels of oil a day. But we are not satisfied with that figure,” he stated.

Heirs Energies, which took over OML 17 from Shell about four years ago, currently extracts over 53,000 barrels of oil daily. The company is working toward expanding its capacity to 100,000 bpd in the coming years. Elumelu expressed optimism that with the right government incentives and recent executive orders from President Bola Tinubu, this goal is attainable.

Beyond oil, he highlighted the persistent challenges in the power sector, particularly inadequate gas supply, which hampers electricity generation.

Elumelu noted that Transcorp, a leading power-producing company in Nigeria with an installed capacity of 2,000 megawatts, continues to face constraints due to gas shortages. Expanding gas production, he argued, would enhance industrial activities and improve power generation.

Also, the CEO of Heirs Energies, Osa Igiehon, remarked on the evolving landscape of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, noting the country’s progress in reversing its production slump. He highlighted that indigenous firms now oversee a substantial share—potentially more than half—of the nation’s oil production, presenting both challenges and opportunities.

Elumelu and other speakers at the event, including the minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri are optimistic that the recent developments have strengthened confidence among industry stakeholders that Nigeria can further enhance its oil production capacity, achieve economic diversification, and ensure long-term energy stability.

On February 13, the OPEC said Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production increased significantly to 1.53 million barrels per day (bpd) in January.

The development was the first time Nigeria met the oil cartel’s production quota of 1.5 million bpd since it was set — for the 2024 period — at OPEC’s ministerial meeting on November 30, 2023.