FG targets 3mbpd oil output, $50bn energy projects on reform push

The Federal Government has declared that Nigeria is on course to achieve crude oil production of three million barrels per day (mbpd) and 10 billion standard cubic feet of gas daily by 2030, backed by a visible pipeline of more than $50 billion in upstream investments driven by ongoing energy sector reforms.

The government also disclosed that crude oil and condensate production has increased by about 400,000 barrels per day since 2023, while Nigeria’s external reserves have exceeded $50 billion, arguing that reforms have strengthened investor confidence and restored the country’s competitiveness in attracting energy capital.

Speaking at the opening of the 25th NOG Energy Week in Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, said Nigeria had moved from making promises to delivering measurable results through reforms aimed at improving fiscal terms, streamlining regulation and reducing project approval timelines.

According to her, Nigeria now accounts for a significantly larger share of Africa’s upstream Final Investment Decisions (FIDs), with more than $10 billion in long-delayed projects reaching final investment approval over the past three years. She added that the administration was working to position Nigeria as an industrial hub by converting its hydrocarbon resources into electricity, fertiliser, petrochemicals, manufacturing, exports and jobs.

Verheijen noted that Nigeria still faces an estimated $38.3 billion financing gap to achieve its 2030 production target, stressing that the country must continue improving regulatory certainty, project bankability, competitive costs and execution to attract global capital.

She said the government had also initiated reforms in the electricity sector through the ₦4 trillion Presidential Power Sector Financial Reforms Programme, designed to restore market confidence, settle legacy obligations and strengthen the financial viability of the power value chain.

On gas development, Verheijen said the government was expanding domestic LPG supply, improving affordability and supporting investments through tax and import duty incentives. Since January 2024, she said, import duty exemption certificates worth about $92.6 million had been approved for LPG infrastructure projects, including $30.4 million this year alone.

She maintained that while reforms had imposed short-term costs on households, they were laying the foundation for stronger economic growth, improved energy security and greater industrialisation.

“We have not finished the work,” she said, noting that inflation, affordability, security, infrastructure and execution remain key priorities, but insisted that Nigeria was now focused on turning reforms into investment, investment into projects and projects into jobs.