•Komolafe puts Nigeria’s technical potential output at 2.24m bpd
•We were first to halt routine gas flaring in Nigeria, says TotalEnergies
Emmanuel Addeh and Peter Uzoho in Abuja
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) yesterday disclosed that since 2021 Nigeria’s crude oil production has increased by as much as 70 per cent, noting that the commission is currently targeting a 40 billion barrels crude reserves.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NUPRC, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, who stated this during an address at the ongoing 8th Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja, explained that Nigeria’s technical potential output is put at 2.24 million bpd.
Aside his address, Komolafe also spoke on a panel, with the topic: “Energy Signature and Transaction Deal Winners of the Year”, which also featured Chief Executive of the NNPC Exploration & Production Limited (NEPL), Mr. Nicolas Foucart; CEO of Oando Energy Resources, Dr Ainojie Irune; CEO of Seplat Energy Plc, Mr. Roger Brown and CEO of Chappal Energies, Mr. Ufoma Emmanual.
On a separate panel tagged: “Turning Resources into Revenue”, Chief Executive of TotalEnergies Companies in Nigeria, Matthieu Bouyer, stated that in the company’s quest for cleaner energy, since 2023 , it had stopped routine gas flaring in the country.
Komolafe said: “ In the short-term, we have set new benchmarks for oil and gas production and significantly strengthened the nation’s energy security. Our achievements speak for themselves.
“Between 2023 and 2024, oil reserves increased by 1.43 per cent, reaching 37.5 billion barrels, while gas reserves grew by 0.21 per cent, reaching 209.26 trillion cubic feet. Rig count increased from eight in 2021 to 40 in 2025 and is projected to reach 50 before year end while (oil) production increased by 70 per cent from 1 million bopd in 2021 to the current production of circa 1.75 million bopd.
“Nigeria’s vast oil reserves present a remarkable opportunity for growth and economic transformation. While our current production averages circa 1.75 million barrels per day, our technical potential is 2.24 million barrels per day.
“The commission is working assiduously to bridge the gap between the actual production and the potential through actions aimed at improving transparency, driving collaboration with E&P companies, ensuring financial viability, fast-tracking field developments, adopting cutting-edge improved oil recovery technologies, reducing costs, eliminating entry barriers and optimising production.”
He said divestments in the Nigerian oil and gas industry will be managed in a way that the country will not experience the decline suffered by Venezuela when divestment happened in its petroleum sector and oil production dropped from a high of 3.5 million barrels per day to 1 million barrels in the 20s.
He announced that through the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), approximately $2.5 billion in investment will potentially be unlocked, which he said will result in generating huge revenue, and creating a significant number of jobs in the country.
Also speaking, Managing Director of TotalEnergies, Bouyer, said the world is currently investing more in low-carbon energies, but said that the world still consumes as much as 80 per cent in fossil fuels for its energy.
“So it’s still the vast majority of the energy we consume every day. So actually, while there is a transition, we still need oil and gas, and more oil and gas year after year. And it will be like that for a long time. If you look at the last 150 years, there has been more addition from oil, nuclear, gas, renewable, than removing energies along the way. So it is fueled by the growing energy demand, and we believe it will be like that for quite long.
“What we need, though, is to make sure that we produce energy that is clean, in the cleanest possible way, in order to valorise every molecule of gas in particular that we have on our asset. We’ve stopped routine flaring in 2023, end of 2023. We are the first operator in Nigeria to do it. And we are abating methane emissions on every of our assets, and supporting NNPC in its own assets in order to identify methane leaks and to reduce them eventually,” Bouyer stressed.
He called for more investment in gas, since it is clean and more abundant in Nigeria, pointing that it is already part of the present roadmap to significantly grow its production in the country.
“So we believe that gas in Nigeria is well positioned with all these resources. It is also close to Europe, so if you want to export gas through LNG, it’s a big competitive advantage. And you know that Europe today is diversifying its gas supply mix, so that’s a formidable opportunity for a gas-rich country like Nigeria in terms of business,” he argued.
Explaining that this requires collaboration, Bouyer said there was also a need also for stability in fiscal rules and policies as well as physical security in the country.
“We need security in LNG, onshore in particular. As you know that to attract investments, security is of paramount importance, in particular on the onshore landscape where we still face a lot of disturbances. Nigeria has successfully started to pivot towards a competitive landscape,” he added.
In his remarks, the CEO of Seplat Energy, Brown said Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is currently experiencing a renaissance with the completion of the divestment deals and other enabling policies by the current administration.
” I was going to say it’s a renaissance, but that name’s already been taken and I call it a new dawn. I think it’s a new dawn for Nigeria and the people of Nigeria, I think now we have much more alignment than we’ve ever had, certainly since I’ve been here.
“And the IOCs, the indigenous, the government, the presidency, the drive to get this up and we’re going to transform Nigeria. Nigeria is extremely exciting. The desire to get the production up to 2.75 million to 4 million barrels is very achievable, and we’re all going to do it,” he stated.
