The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is making significant strides toward meeting President Bola Tinubu’s ambitious production targets, with the company’s Group CEO, Bayo Ojulari, reporting substantial progress following a recent briefing with the nation’s leader.
Fielding questions from journalists late Sunday, shortly after meeting with the president, Ojulari provided updates on the state-owned oil company’s performance and its roadmap to achieving the government’s energy goals.
The NNPCL chief revealed that the company achieved a major milestone last month, recording approximately 1.68 million barrels per day of oil production. “That was the first in about five years in terms of milestones,” Ojulari stated, highlighting the significance of the achievement for Africa’s largest oil producer.
The company also set a new benchmark in gas production, with output exceeding seven billion cubic feet (BCF) per day. “We also recorded the highest gas production at about seven, above seven BCF per day, again, which is also the highest in recent times,” the CEO added.
Ojulari emphasized the clear directive from President Tinubu to expand production capacity significantly over the coming years. “Mr. President gave us a very clear mandate, which is to grow production to at least two million barrels per day by 2027 and up to, you know, three million barrels per day by 2030, as well as grow gas production as well,” he explained.
With maintenance work completed in August and September now bearing fruit, the NNPCL boss expressed optimism about near-term prospects. “We’re hoping that before the end of the year, we should at least be clocking at least 1.8 million barrels per day, all things being equal,” Ojulari projected.
Addressing recent disruptions, Ojulari acknowledged the costly impact of industrial action stemming from a dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote Refinery.
“I think it was quite unfortunate that the Dangote and PENGASSAN issue, you know, led to the strike,” he said, revealing that the company lost “significant production of almost over 200,000 barrels per day of production that was deferred.”
The strike’s ripple effects extended beyond oil production, affecting gas output and the national power grid. “About 1.2 megawatts of power was affected by that strike,” Ojulari noted.
However, the CEO praised the federal government’s intervention in resolving the dispute. “I think I’m very pleased that, you know, the federal government, you know, through the leadership of the federal minister for labour and also full support from the national security adviser, we’re able to pull together everyone into, you know, a dialogue and bring everybody to the table,” he said.
Since the resolution of the labour dispute, NNPCL has been working to restore production levels. “We’ve been able to return quite a number of the production back to the status quo,” Ojulari reported, though he acknowledged some challenges remain. “There are one or two areas where we’re still trying to catch up. But overall, we are gradually going back to restore the lost production and the defilements that we have as of today.”
The positive production trends and successful resolution of the recent strike position NNPCL to continue its trajectory toward meeting the government’s ambitious targets, which are crucial for Nigeria’s economic recovery and energy security.
