The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Project Incentives (Tax Remission) Executive Order 2026 signed by President Bola Tinubu could unlock about $50 billion investments and increase the country’s crude oil and condensate production by an additional one million barrels per day (bpd).
This was disclosed by the Commission Chief Executive of NUPRC, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, on Tuesday during Tuesday Live on NTA.
“The executive order has established a transparent, rules-based investment framework that will support new deep offshore developments and encourage investors to take Final Investment Decisions (FIDs),” said Enorense Amadasu represented by the Executive Commissioner, Development and Production, NUPRC.
“Nigeria currently produces about 1.7 million bpd of crude oil and condensate, while deep offshore operations account for about 24 per cent of total oil production and 19 per cent of gas production,” she said.
She said the country has produced more than 4.6 billion barrels to date from deep offshore assets, or about 5,000 cargoes.
The new incentives will help fast-track projects with already approved Field Development Plans (FDPs) by the NUPRC, Eyesan said.
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The NUPRC boss said the $10 billion Bonga South project, expected to come on stream in 2027, will be one of the projects that would drive the expected production increase.
“So where are these volumes going to come from? Nine of these projects have approved FDPs, so the next step is expected to be the FID in the near to mid-term.
“The $10bn Bonga South will be in 2027 and in the next four to five years we are expecting almost another one million barrels additional per day,” he said.
“The executive order will also have wider economic benefits, particularly for the marine economy, as increased deep offshore activities will require expansion of Nigeria’s logistics and marine infrastructure,” Eyesan said.
She also identified increased reserves, transfer of technology and skills and creation of jobs as some of the expected benefits of the policy.
She said the executive order is expected to provide greater certainty for investors and support the development of deep offshore oil and gas projects that require substantial capital and long-term investment.