THE Federal Government says Nigeria is currently producing about 1.745 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) targeting to hit two million bpd by the end of 2025.
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri said this while declaring the 2025 Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week open, yesterday, in Abuja.
Lokpobiri said that the production target for 2025 budget was based on 2.06 million bpd, adding that it must ramp up production to hit two million.
“We can succeed when we work together to be strong enough to deliver. “I urge the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) to change its target ambition to producing above two million barrels by 2025,” he said.
He said that in 2023 when he was appointed as the minister, there was no investment for 10 years due to legal framework and other challenges.
He said that from 2023, the narratives changed and investments were recorded as a result of deliberate policies and reforms that worked, and absolute increase in investors confidence in Nigeria.
The minister also appealed to the National Assembly to reduce the number of summons of the IOCs and industry players for legislative hearing.
“Part of the complaints in the industry is about the frequent summons at the National Assembly and that should be reduced.
“I was a senator for many years, we knew the consequences of some of these actions, before summoning you need to look at the issues critically and make consultations.
“What is the business of summoning the IOCs on procurement issues that happened many years ago. They should not be summoned for frivolous reasons,” the minister said.
On the African Energy Bank, he said that advertisement was placed for the office of its President, adding that in the next few days Afreximbank and other partners would convene a shareholders’ meeting.
