Nigeria's Oil Sector Sees Major Gains Under Tinubu Administration
Nigeria's upstream petroleum sector has seen significant improvements since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took office in May 2023, according to Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri. Crude oil production is approaching 1.8 million barrels per day, exceeding the one million barrels per day mark inherited by the current administration.
The sector has also seen an increase in active drilling rigs from about 14 in 2023 to more than 60, with over $8 billion in major Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) recorded since Tinubu's assumption of office. Lokpobiri attributed the improvement to improved security, greater regulatory certainty, resolution of long-standing industry challenges, and efforts to attract fresh capital into exploration and production.
The Minister highlighted that the increase in rigs is a significant indicator of renewed upstream activity, providing an indication of capital deployment and field-development activity beyond headline production figures. Lokpobiri emphasized that drilling activity could have implications for future production capacity, particularly for Nigeria which has spent years grappling with declining upstream investment and ageing producing assets.