The federal government says Nigeria is currently producing approximately 1.745 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) and aims to reach two million bpd by the end of 2025.

Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), said this while declaring the 2025 Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week open on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr Lokpobiri said the production target for the 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,” the minister said. “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 that in 2023, when he was appointed as the minister, there was no investment for 10 years due to the legal framework and other challenges.

Mr Lokpobiri said that from 2023, the narratives changed and investments were recorded as a result of deliberate policies and reforms that worked, and an 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 hearings.

“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 noted that an 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.

Also speaking, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said Nigeria had proven gas reserves of over 200 trillion cubic feet.

Mr Ekpo said value would only be created in the gas sector when resources were developed and utilised.

He said that through the “Decade of Gas” initiative, the country was focused on translating its vast gas wealth into tangible socio-economic benefits.

Mr Ekpo said this included driving industrialisation, expanding power generation, increasing domestic Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) usage, deepening gas-to-transport adoption, and growing gas export capacity.

The 2025 NOG Energy Week Conference and Exhibition is themed “Accelerating Global Energy Progress through Investment, Partnerships, and Innovation”.

(NAN)