The Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) has called on the federal government to accelerate the conclusion of all the pending International Oil Companies (IOCs) divestment transactions in the country to unlock over 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and 1.5 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas production.
The group emphasised that the move would also boost investment in the upstream sector and improve the country’s oil and gas production capacity.
IPPG chairman, Abdulrazaq Isa, made the call at the ongoing 2024 Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week on Tuesday in Abuja
The 2024 NOG conference, scheduled to hold from June 30 to July 4, has the theme: “Showcasing Opportunities, Driving Investment, Meeting Energy Demand.”
Isa said the IPPG believed the timely approval of these IOCs divestment transactions would be a clear signal capable of restoring global investor confidence in Nigeria.
“IPPG strongly advocates that our member companies – Seplat, the Renaissance Consortium and Oando – have the proven track record to successfully take over and manage these onshore and shallow water assets.
“The assets will realise incremental production in the region of 100,000 – 200,000 barrels of oil and over 1.5 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas per day within 24 months and well over 500,000 barrels of oil per day in the long term.
“IPPG believes the timely approval of these IOCs divestment transactions will restore global investor confidence in Nigeria in an era of competing global investment destinations in Africa and very limited access to capital,” he said.
He also underscored the need to address deepwater development and production.
According to him, untangling issues around deepwater development, particularly in terms of competitive fiscal regime being negotiated with Shell, Total Energies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, will unlock incremental production of 700,000bpd in the short to medium term.
He said that enabling deepwater development would attract significant economic benefits as Nigeria has one of the world’s largest untapped deepwater resource bases.
The IPPG boss also called for the adoption of a national value-retention strategy, adding that Nigeria’s domestic crude oil refining and petrochemical capacity must be sustained primarily from our domestic crude production.
This, he said, would transform the country into a net exporter of refined petroleum and petrochemical products that would lay a strong foundation for the rapid industrialisation of the Nigerian economy.
“It is, therefore, imperative to grow our daily production to 2.5 million barrels of oil and 10 bcf of gas in the near to long term.
“This will ensure that we are able to meet our domestic refinery, petrochemical demands and export commitments to generate the much needed foreign exchange earnings for macro-economic stability.
“Nigeria’s vast gas resources must be exploited with immediate focus placed on restoring production to existing installed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) capacity and expanding production (FLNG).
“In addition, we must expand domestic gas utilisation (Gas-to-Power; Gas-Based Industries) by investing heavily to address the gas infrastructure deficit facing us today.
The IOCs will lead the charge on export gas while IPPG members will drive the domestic gas agenda led by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.),” he said.
He said these priority areas would provide the most realistic and sustainable pathway towards meeting the national long term production aspiration of four million bpd and 13 bcf of gas per day.
“Consequently, as a matter of national importance, Nigeria must act fast and hasten the pace of recovery across the entire industry, even if it means Mr President declaring a state of emergency in the sector,” he said.