Nigeria secures $13bn in oil and gas investments from ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies

Nigeria has successfully attracted a substantial $13 billion in investment commitments for its oil and gas sector, drawing participation from major international energy corporations, including ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies.

This development was confirmed by Olu Verheijen, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy.

Verheijen, in collaboration with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), recently engaged with representatives from 15 prominent oil and gas firms operating within Nigeria, securing their commitment to invest in the country’s oil and gas industry. This announcement was made via an official statement released on Friday, distributed through the Nairametrics platform in Nigeria.

“We are faced with a revenue crisis which is impacting all Nigerians. To urgently address this, President Bola Tinubu is actively seeking ways to grow revenue and forex to stabilize our economy and currency, and the oil and gas sector remains critical to our ability to do so despite current production levels falling significantly short of our potential,” Verheijen said.

Presently, Nigeria’s oil production falls approximately 1 million barrels per day (bpd) below its maximum capacity. The government attributes this shortfall to a combination of factors, including insufficient investments, a scarcity of funding sources due to the energy transition, and security concerns.

Nigeria has set ambitious goals to substantially raise its oil production, targeting up to 1.7 million bpd by November 2023. This endeavor is driven by the desire to secure a larger quota within the OPEC+ agreement. Gabriel Tanimu Aduda, Permanent Secretary at Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources, disclosed this aspiration in an interview with Energy Intelligence in July.

Earlier in the year, Nigeria’s allocated quota within OPEC+ stood at 1.742 million bpd. However, due to consistent underproduction, with a deficit of over 400,000 bpd, Nigeria’s output cap was reduced to 1.38 million bpd during the OPEC+ meeting held in early June.

Nigeria’s inability to meet its OPEC+ production commitments has stemmed from various challenges, including pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and inadequate capacity investment. Consequently, Nigeria has emerged as a notable underperformer in crude oil production within the OPEC+ alliance.