The federal government has disclosed that local petrol production has increased from effectively zero in 2023 to about 48 million litres per day. Olu Verheijen, special adviser to the president on oil and gas, disclosed this at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce Energy Day 2026.

Speaking on the topic, ‘Energy in Nigeria: From Potential to Reality’, Ms Verheijen noted that for the first time in a generation, the majority of the petrol Nigerians consume is now refined domestically.

“This is where energy reform meets the strength of the naira. For decades, every cargo of imported petrol was a standing demand for scarce dollars, a structural drain that weakened our currency.

“As local refining has risen, that drain has eased: petrol imports fell from about N2.3 trillion in the first quarter of 2025 to under N90 billion a year later. Fewer dollars spent on fuel means less pressure on the naira. Energy security and currency stability are not separate goals. They are the same goal,” she said.

On crude oil and condensate production, the special adviser said the country had restored investors’ confidence. According to her, crude oil and condensate production averaged 1.64 million barrels per day in 2025.

She said the production was up by roughly 400,000 barrels a day since 2023, and the highest onshore level in two decades.

Ms Verheijen also disclosed that over $4 billion in international oil company divestments had been concluded. She said the divestment had helped to deepen indigenous participation in onshore, while the majors re-focused on deep-water and integrated gas.

“Pipeline uptime is now consistently high, and illegal refining sharply reduced. Every additional barrel matters—for revenue, for jobs, and for the strength of the federation,” she said.

Reflecting on what the administration met on the ground in 2023, Ms Verheijen said that the sector was under severe strain. She stated that subsidies had become fiscally unsustainable while foreign-exchange distortions had weakened investment.

“Production was below potential. Power sector debt was strangling the gas-to-power chain. The country had resources, but the system was not converting them into national value. So our first task was to stop the bleeding and rebuild the foundations,” she said.

In addressing the challenges, Ms Verheijen stated that President Bola Tinubu’s administration restored fiscal credibility by removing the fuel subsidy and reforming the exchange rate. According to her, the decisions were hard, but necessary.

“The results are visible. Total federation revenue rose to about N21 trillion in 2024, up from roughly N12 trillion in 2023—nearly doubling in a single year,” she said.

She noted that, despite the deregulation, the government has prevented the chronic nationwide petrol queues that once defined scarcity.

(NAN)