Nigeria: Oil Minister optimistic about production of 3 million barrels a day by 2025.

Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has announced that Nigeria could achieve production of 3 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) by 2025. The statement was made at the Sub-Saharan Energy Conference held in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to the Minister, this increase would include both crude oil and condensates, while remaining in line with the country's commitments to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Lokpobiri reaffirmed Nigeria's and Africa's commitment to continue investing in the oil and gas sector to fight energy poverty.

The Minister expressed his satisfaction at the progress made by the current administration in increasing daily oil production. He recalled that when the current government took office, production had fallen to one million barrels a day. Today it stands at 1.8 million barrels a day, an increase of 80%.

"We have made considerable progress. When we arrived, we were producing barely a million barrels a day. Today, we are producing 1.8 million barrels and we can still improve on this performance. The aim now is to increase our production to between 2.5 and 3 million barrels a day this year", said Lokpobiri.

The Minister also pointed out that the distinction between crude oil and condensates could make it possible to achieve this objective more quickly. "A better classification of our products could enable us to produce three million barrels a day, without contravening OPEC commitments," he added.

However, Lokpobiri warned that regulatory and political instability was holding back foreign investment in Nigeria's energy sector. Unpredictable policy decisions and frequent regulatory changes are deterring potential investors, he said.

"Our international partners want stability and predictability. Today, the lack of coherence in public policies is detrimental to Nigeria's attractiveness. It is imperative to create a more transparent and competitive environment at global level", he insisted.

In particular, he denounced certain administrative decisions that hamper the smooth running of international oil companies, such as sudden restrictions on cash flow.

Despite these ambitions, Nigeria still has to overcome several major challenges to increase its production. In 2023, the country failed to meet its OPEC production quota of 1.5 million barrels per day. Oil theft, infrastructure vandalism and lack of investment have been identified as major obstacles to production growth.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has nonetheless reaffirmed its commitment to raising national production above 2 million barrels per day by 2024.

With these ambitious objectives and the expected reforms, Nigeria hopes not only to regain its status as African leader in the oil sector, but also to strengthen its role in the global energy market.