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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, says Nigeria is receiving delegations from the United States, Europe and the Middle East seeking to purchase its crude oil, but the country lacks sufficient production to meet the demand.

Lokpobiri made the disclosure on Wednesday at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Energy Week in Abuja, attributing the surge in interest partly to tensions in the Gulf region.

“The pressure is even more on me because of what has happened in the Gulf region. I receive delegations from across the world, from the USA, from Europe, and from the Middle East. Everybody comes to me because they want to do business with Nigeria. They want to buy Nigerian oil. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough to sell to them,” he said.

READ ALSO: EFCC Arraigns Former Port Harcourt Refinery Boss Over ₦1.32bn Fraud

Despite the supply gap, the minister expressed optimism, pledging that Nigeria would scale up output within the coming years. “I promise them that in the next few years, Nigeria will be able to increase our production through the ambitious programmes we are pursuing, and we will be able to meet some of those obligations to those countries,” he said.

Lokpobiri disclosed that Nigeria’s crude production, including condensate, has climbed to over 1.8 million barrels per day, up from approximately one million barrels per day when the Tinubu administration took office in 2023. He credited the recovery to a rise in active drilling rigs from about 14 to more than 60 over the same period.

“When I became minister in 2023, the president told me it was unacceptable for Nigeria to be producing one million barrels per day. I made a commitment that we would remove the bottlenecks and work together as a team to change the story. Today, the latest report from NUPRC shows we are doing over 1.8 million barrels per day, inclusive of condensate,” he said.

The minister, however, maintained that 1.8 million barrels per day was insufficient, saying Nigeria had previously produced as much as 2.5 million barrels daily and had the capacity to return to that level.

He also disclosed that indigenous operators, including Renaissance Africa Energy, Seplat Energy and Oando, now account for over 60 per cent of daily production following their acquisitions of onshore assets divested by Shell, ExxonMobil and ENI. “Today, the independents account for over 60 per cent of our daily production of 1.8 million barrels per day. They are just starting. This is only the beginning of what patriotic Nigerian companies can do,” he said.

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Hibbatullah Shittu
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