Ramp up production, FG charges oil firms
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Federal Government has again tasked indigenous oil companies to ramp up production to meet both domestic and export demands and boost revenue remittance to government coffers.
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, made the call in Abuja when he received the management of Renaissance Africa Energy at the ministry headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja.
Recall that the indigenous oil company completed the acquisition of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria after months of discussion to secure regulatory approval.
The Renaissance consortium comprises ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc,
FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited, Waltersmith Group, and Petrolin, an international energy firm.
These companies will collectively manage assets worth over $3bn and produce approximately 100,000 barrels of oil per day across 12 oil mining leases.
The group also operates two modular refineries in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.
Speaking in his address, the minister pointed out that Nigeria has the most skilled labour force in the oil and gas industry in Africa. Currently, Nigeria’s oil production has stagnated at 1.5 million barrels per day despite a budget benchmark of 2.1 million barrels per day for 2025.
Lokpobiri expressed confidence that the takeover of assets belonging to International Oil Companies by Nigerian firms would lead to an increase in oil production.
He pointed out that the takeover of the assets meant critical decisions by the companies would now be taken in Nigeria rather than in faraway headquarters.
“Divestment is a global practice. If you want to attract investments, you must also allow people to divest when they want to. I’m proud to say that under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, these divestments were basically one of the obstacles to the flow of investments”, he stated.
While expressing confidence in the capacity of Nigerians to manage the divested assets efficiently, he said: “If you unveil Shell, if you unveil ExxonMobil, if you unveil Chevron, if you unveil all the IOCs, beyond the name and maybe a few of their top management, all those you see who had created these companies are Nigerians”.
He urged Renaissance management to prove its mettle by increasing the company’s oil production.
Earlier, Renaissance CEO, Dr Tony Attah, noted that Renaissance is a proudly Nigerian company with an objective of performing better than Shell in managing the divested assets.
“Shell did its exploration, exploitation, and production to develop its own countries. But we, as Renaissance, are here to do exactly the same business, perhaps do it better to develop our own country, Nigeria. I think, for me personally, that is where the delineation and difference come in.
“It is about time that Nigeria takes that centre stage where we are called the giants of Africa. I know there are still one or two areas where we can still step forward if you go to the entertainment industry, the telcos, perhaps the banking, but I think energy is one area where, if you look at all the indices, we are leading, but we are leading based on data. But we want to lead and lead practically and be the energy leader in Africa”, he stated.
