The Federal Government and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) have called for sustained investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, stressing the need for policy stability, regulatory certainty, security and faster project execution to keep the sector competitive amid the global energy transition.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, and the NUPRC Commission Chief Executive, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan both made the call on Thursday in Abuja, at the 2026 Annual Conference of the Association of Energy Correspondents, Abuja FCT (AECAF).
The conference themed “Sustaining Oil and Gas Investment in Nigeria Amid Energy Transition,” brought together government officials, regulators, industry stakeholders and
energy correspondents to examine the future of investment in Nigeria’s hydrocarbon sector.
Ekpo noted that Nigeria remained fundamentally an energy-rich country with significant oil and gas resources, but stressed that the challenge was to create an investment
environment capable of translating those resources into industrialisation, job creation, infrastructure development and improved living standards.
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He said: “Our task is therefore not simply to produce hydrocarbons, but to create an investment environment that enables these resources to support industrialisation, job
creation, infrastructure development and improved living standards.
“This requires a sustained commitment to policy stability, regulatory certainty, fiscal competitiveness, security and efficient project delivery.”
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Represented by his Senior Technical Adviser (STA) Abel Nsa, he noted that the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and ongoing reforms across the
petroleum sector were aimed at providing greater clarity for investors, strengthening regulatory institutions and creating a more competitive operating environment.The minister however acknowledged that legislation alone was insufficient, stressing that investors also needed confidence that policies would be consistently implemented
and projects executed efficiently and profitably. He maintained that the Federal Government was particularly focused on making Nigeria’s vast gas resources a stronger foundation for economic transformation through the
Decade of Gas Initiative.
According to him, the initiative was aimed at moving Nigeria from an economy where gas was primarily viewed as an export commodity to one where it increasingly supports
power generation, manufacturing, fertiliser production, petrochemicals, transportation and other productive activities.
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Ekpo said substantial investment in infrastructure was required to achieve the objective, citing the AKK and OB3 gas pipelines, gas processing, LNG and other midstream
projects as critical to connecting Nigeria’s gas resources to markets.
He added that the government was promoting the expansion of LPG and CNG to improve access to cleaner and more affordable energy for households, businesses and
industries.
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On energy transition, the minister said Nigeria’s approach must reflect the country’s development realities, noting that millions of Nigerians still lacked reliable electricity and
access to cleaner cooking fuels.
“Natural gas therefore has an important role to play as a transition fuel and as an enabler of industrialisation.”
Ekpo also called for continued efforts to address infrastructure constraints, insecurity, operational inefficiencies, contracting delays and regulatory bottlenecks affecting
project economics.
“Government has a responsibility to create the enabling environment, while operators must continue to invest responsibly, improve efficiency and uphold the highest
standards of safety and environmental performance.
The CCE NUPRC, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said the starting point for sustaining investment in Nigeria’s petroleum industry was economic value, stressing that resources in
the ground would not automatically translate into prosperity.
“For me, the starting point is economic value. Nigeria has a significant petroleum resource base, but resources in the ground do not, by themselves, create prosperity.
“This is why our responsibility at the Commission goes beyond regulating activity, we remain focused on creating the conditions that allow good projects to progress without
incumberance.”
Eyesan said Nigeria averaged about 1.68 million barrels per day of crude oil and condensate in August 2026, while crude production met the country’s OPEC quota for the
fourth consecutive month.
She said the development provided a stronger base for Nigeria’s production aspirations of two million barrels per day in the near term and three million barrels per day by
2030.
According to her, achieving the targets would require bringing viable shut-in volumes back onstream, reducing production losses and ensuring operators progressed credible
work programmes.
Represented by the Director, Surface Development at the NUPRC, Mr. Joseph Ogunsola, she noted that sustained investment would be critical to unlocking the next wave of
production, adding that capital would flow where opportunities were matched by clarity and certainty.
“Investors need to understand the rules and the timelines before committing long-term capital. This is why regulatory predictability and speed remain important to us.”
Eyesan disclosed that since 2024, the Commission had approved Field Development Plans representing more than $57 billion in investment, while 22 major offshore projects
expected between 2026 and 2030 carried estimated investment potential of $30 billion to $50 billion. The NUPRC boss said the regulator was now focused on staying closer to projects, identifying bottlenecks and resolving them early enough to keep investment decisions
moving, while holding operators accountable for their commitments.
She said investment was returning to parts of the industry where activity had slowed, while opportunities that had stalled several years ago were being reconsidered.
“We have to spend less time admiring the opportunity and more time converting it.
Our role as regulator is not to stand in the way of investment neither is it to lower the standards required to protect Nigeria’s interest.
“The task is to regulate in a way that gives credible investors the certainty to deploy capital and the confidence to remain. I have said before that we want to grow the pie,
because when you grow the pie, everybody benefits.”
Eyesan said sustaining investment also required Nigeria’s oil and gas industry to remain competitive as investors increasingly considered the efficiency of resource
development and production alongside the underlying economics of projects.
She said the Commission’s Upstream Oil and Gas Decarbonisation and Sustainability Blueprint was designed to bring decarbonisation considerations into new developments
at the Field Development Plan stage.
According to her, operators would be expected to consider energy efficiency, gas utilisation, flaring and emissions performance alongside the technical and commercial
fundamentals of projects.
The NUPRC boss said the approach also covered existing assets through annual work programmes, asset-specific sustainability plans, asset integrity, predictive maintenance
and energy optimisation.
She said the Commission was also addressing methane and flare management through the Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions Regulations, stronger Leak Detection
and Repair requirements and the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme.
Eyesan said the Commission was developing additional regulatory tools, including the Upstream Petroleum Decarbonisation Template, Carbon Market Participation Guidelines
and regulations for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage.
She added that energy transition should not be viewed separately from the growth of Nigeria’s upstream sector saying, “It is about getting more value from the resources we
produce, reducing waste and ensuring that both existing assets and the next generation of Nigerian projects remain competitive.
Earlier, Chairman of AECAF, Mr John Ofikhenua, said the conference was designed to provoke discussion on how Nigeria could retain and renew investor confidence in the
hydrocarbon industry amid the global shift towards cleaner energy.
Ofikhenua, who regretted that investment had repeatedly suffered from major global developments, unfavourable policies and business decisions, cited the United States
shale boom, COVID-19 and the global energy transition as developments that had affected investment flows into the petroleum industry.
According to him, the energy transition triggered divestments from Nigeria’s onshore oil assets, but subsequent global developments had again underscored the continuing
importance of hydrocarbons to the world economy.
He said the Russia-Ukraine war and other geopolitical developments had demonstrated the continuing strategic importance of oil and gas to global energy security.
“Surprisingly, it is a simple lesson that the darkest part of the night is usually close to dawn. Today, the narrative is changing in favour of investment in the nation’s
hydrocarbon industry.”
Ofikhenua further noted that the industry had also witnessed renewed investor interest in opportunities such as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Initial
Public Offering and NUPRC’s oil and gas field bid rounds.
He urged the government to consolidate the emerging investment interest by maintaining stable policies, implementing the PIA and strengthening security, particularly in the
Niger Delta, while calling for sustained security in the Niger Delta to retain existing investors and attract fresh capital into the sector.
“Experience from coverage of the beat has been that of complaint over policy summersaults. Nigeria can only sustain investors confidence with enduring and stable policies.”
Source: newtelegraphng.com