By Bassey Udo
With oil production currently at an average of 1.84 million barrels per day, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has challenged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to mobilise the industry to increase the daily oil production capacity to two million barrels.
Edun spoke when the Commission Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, visited him at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja on Wednesday.
While commending the NUPRC for effectively piloting the petroleum sector to an oil production level of 1.84 million barrels in recent days, the Minister pointed out that the trajectory should be maintained towards the magic figure of 2million BPD.
“It is heartening that you can tell us that the industry is doing 1.84 million barrels per day. That is fantastic news. That is totally in line with the mandate of President Bola Tinubu. Clearly, the industry started on a very good note. Please keep it up,” Edun told the NUPRC boss.
He described the raging war in the Middle East as an unfortunate development, adding that President Bola Tinubu had given the marching order to the industry to increase crude oil production even before the crisis began.
Urging the NUPRC to push the operators in the industry harder to hit the 2million barrels daily production target, the Minister wished the NUPRC boss continued success in her assignment.
“What matters is not just reaching certain heights, but sustaining it. We don’t want any stopping along the way. The trajectory should be maintained and of course to reach the magic figure of 2million barrels per day,” Edun said.
Speaking earlier, the Commission Chief Executive of the NUPRC said recent daily crude oil production reached the 1.84 million barrels per day mark.
“We are doing 1.84 million barrels per day at the moment. That is a remarkable feat. But I am sure we will do more,” she assured the minister.
The NUPRC chief executive attributed the dip in the production figure in February to some unfortunate incidents on some strategic facilities in the Niger Delta as well as turnaround maintenance of the facilities.
With all those issues now fixed, Eyesan gave the assurance that the industry would soon see production ramping up.
With regards to the 2025 licensing round, Eyesan said the Commission was now in the technical and financial stage.
She expressed optimism over the growth of the petroleum sector in the near future, especially because of provisions like the “drill or drop” in the Petroleum Industry Act, which empowers the Commission to revoke leases of dormant acreages.
The NUPRC boss revealed that some of the acreages that were put on offer could see production as early as a year, adding that indigenous companies were showing an impressive capacity in their operations.
Eyesan also noted that the Commission had fully complied with the Executive Order 9 of 2026, which directs the immediate suspension of the 30% Frontier Exploration Fund (FEF) deduction from profit oil and gas, alongside other management fees and the direct remittance of same to the Federation Account.