FG Urges Oil Firms to Boost Production

Oil workers at a production facility in Nigeria, as the federal government calls on companies to increase crude output.

The federal government has assigned local oil companies the task of increasing output in order to meet demand for both domestic and international markets.

Nigeria has the most skilled labor force in Africa's oil and gas sector, according to Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), who made the call in Abuja after receiving the management of Renaissance Africa Energy.

Nigeria's oil production has stagnated at 1.5 million barrels per day, despite a budgeted goal of 2.1 million barrels per day for 2025.

If Nigerian businesses acquired the assets of international oil companies, Lokpobiri stated he was sure more oil would be produced.

Important business decisions will now be made in Nigeria rather than at distant headquarters, he said, as a result of the assets' acquisition.

Divestment is a common practice. If you want to attract investors, you must also allow them to sell whenever they choose.

He proudly remarked, "Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's leadership, these divestitures were essentially one of the barriers to the flow of investments."

He expressed confidence in Nigerians' ability to manage, saying, "If you unveil Shell, if you unveil ExxonMobil, if you unveil Chevron, if you unveil all the IOCs, beyond the name and maybe a few of their top management, all those you see who had created these companies over the years are Nigerians," effectively selling off the assets.

To prove their abilities, he pressured Renaissance management to increase the company's oil production.

In fact, I can't wait to visit your Lagos office and have a conversation with you to learn about your approach. How will you ramp up? Now, what are you doing? If you're only producing 200,000 barrels per day, how can we help you reach 300,000? You're capable of much more, I'm sure. As a result, we expect you to have a well-defined plan for where and how you wish to go," he added.

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According to Dr. Tony Attah, the CEO of Renaissance, the company is proudly Nigerian and wants to manage the sold assets better than Shell.

Shell carried out its own exploration, extraction, and production to build its own countries. But Renaissance is here to do the same thing—possibly better—to help Nigeria progress as a country. I think that's where the differences and distinctions are.

"Nigeria is deserving of the spotlight and the title of "Africa's titans." We lead in energy if you look at all the indices, but we lead based on data. I am aware that there are still one or two sectors, like banking, telecom, or entertainment, where we might make progress. But we want to lead Africa in energy and take the initiative practically," he added.

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