President Tinubu signs executive orders on petroleum sector reform

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday signed three executive orders, targeted at positioning Nigeria as a preferred oil and gas investment destination in Africa.

In a statement obtained by Vanguard, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, stated: “Following extensive engagements, analyses, and benchmarking with other jurisdictions, the President has initiated the amendment of primary legislation to introduce fiscal incentives for oil & gas projects, reduce contracting costs and timelines, and promote cost efficiency in local content requirements.

“Recognizing the urgency to accelerate investments, the President has directed as follows, Introduction of fiscal incentives for non-associated gas, midstream and deepwater developments, streamlining of contracting process to compress the contracting cycle to six months and ⁠the application of the local content requirements without hindering investments or the cost competitiveness.

“The details of these Policy Directives will be gazetted and communicated by the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation.

“These incentives were developed in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Petroleum, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.

“The Special Adviser to the President on Energy has been directed to continue coordinating the aforementioned stakeholders to ensure the implementation of these directives within a stipulated time frame.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s oil production grew by 8.7 percent in January 2024 to 1.64 million barrels per day when compared to the 1.51 million barrels per day produced over corresponding period last year, latest data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, has indicated.

The Commission in its crude oil and condensate production report for the month of January 2024 showed that average daily liquid production was 1.42 million barrels while average daily condensate production was 217,097 barrels.

A closer look at the report showed that in total, oil production for the month of January was 50.95 million barrels, made up of 44.44 million liquid production and 6.7 million barrels of condensate oil.

The Commission disclosed that Forcados with 8.7 million barrels and Bonny with 6.9 million barrels, were the highest reporting terminals.

The Commission Chief Executive, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe had recently said that NUPRC has adopted measures that would tackle challenges facing the oil and gas sector and boost production in the country.

In a presentation in Lagos, Komolafe said Nigeria’s oil production currently averages 1.586 million barrels per day, made up of 1.33mbpd liquid production and 256,000 condensate oil production.

He explained that measures adopted by the Commission include improved transparency in hydrocarbon measurement and accounting, collaborative work programme administration with the exploration & production companies, and close monitoring to ensure that they meet their work programme obligations.

Others are acceleration of field developments through timely approvals and ensuring speedy execution, production optimisation by ensuring wells are tested periodically and produced at optimal rates, identifying candidate wells for work-over and interventions as well as the adoption of Enhanced Oil Recovery processes and technologies.