Tinubu’s Deep Offshore Order Could Unlock 1 Million bpd, $50bn Investments – NUPRC

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said that the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Project Incentives (Tax Remission) Executive Order 2026 signed by President Bola Tinubu could unlock about $50 billion investments and increase the country’s crude oil and condensate production by an additional one million barrels per day (bpd).

This was revealed by the Commission Chief Executive of NUPRC, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, on Tuesday during Tuesday Live on NTA.

“The executive order has created a transparent, rules-based investment framework that will encourage investors to take Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) and support new deep offshore developments,” said Enorense Amadasu represented by the Executive Commissioner, Development and Production, NUPRC.

“Nigeria currently produces about 1.7 million bpd of crude oil and condensate, while deep offshore operations account for about 24 per cent of total oil production and 19 per cent of gas production.”

The country has produced more than 4.6 billion barrels to date from deep offshore assets, or about 5,000 cargoes, she said.

The new incentives will help to fast-track projects with already approved Field Development Plans (FDPs) by the NUPRC, Eyesan said.

The NUPRC boss said the $10 billion Bonga South project, which is expected to come on stream in 2027, will be one of the projects that would drive the expected production increase.

“So where are these volumes going to be coming from? Nine of these projects have approved FDPs so the next step is expected to be the FID in the near to mid-term.

“We are expecting almost another one million barrels additional per day in the next four to five years and the $10bn Bonga South will be in 2027,” he said.

“There will also be wider economic benefits from the executive order especially for the marine economy as the increase in deep offshore activities will require expansion of Nigeria’s logistics and marine infrastructure,” Eyesan said.

She also identified increased reserves, transfer of technology and skills and job creation as some of the expected benefits of the policy.

She said the executive order is expected to provide greater certainty for investors and to support the development of deep offshore oil and gas projects that require large capital and long-term investment.