1 hour ago
1
The Nigeria Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it has laid a strong institutional foundation in its first five years and is focused on accelerating investment, production and national economic impact.
The Chief Executive of NUPRC, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the fifth anniversary of the the commission, established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Eyesan, in her anniversary address titled “Five-Year Account and Next Phase Priorities”, said the enactment of the PIA in 2021 ended decades of regulatory ambiguity and redefined Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
“The PIA established the NUPRC as an independent technical and commercial regulator and clarified institutional responsibilities across the industry.
“The first five years established the commission. The next five years must establish our impact,” she said.
Eyesan said the commission had also gazetted 19 foundational regulations, providing greater certainty and stability for upstream operations.
She said the current resurgence in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector was a direct result of the decisive policy architecture established by President Bola Tinubu.
“Our sector’s current resurgence is a direct dividend of the decisive policy architecture established under President Bola Tinubu.
“Through targeted presidential directives, contracting cycles have been compressed from years to months, while global competitive tax incentives have been established and the long-standing OPL 245 issue resolved.
“The administration has also addressed the bottlenecks surrounding onshore divestments, thereby removing fiscal constraints that had held Nigeria’s assets back for decades.
“Mr President provided the fiscal certainty, and our responsibility as a commission has been to match that with regulatory speed,” she said.
Eyesan said approvals to reactivate shut-in wells, which previously took between two and six weeks, could now be processed within two to four hours.
She said the reforms were beginning to translate into increased investor confidence, noting that Nigeria accounted for 38 per cent of upstream capital sanctions in Africa in 2025, compared with four per cent in 2021.
The NUPRC boss said that since 2024, the commission had approved 120 Field Development Plans (FDPs), representing more than 47 billion dollars in capital commitments.
Eyesan said that the approvals were not merely figures, but represented potential royalties, jobs, local content development, energy security and foreign exchange earnings for the country.
“Resources in the ground do not fund development. Production in the market does. Investment does. Commercialisation does,” she said.
She said Nigeria’s target of producing three million barrels of oil and 12 billion cubic feet of gas daily by 2030 was a national economic imperative requiring collective commitment and innovation.
Eyesan said that the country’s petroleum assets must not become warehouses for dormant licences, saying the commission will actively monitor and publish the compliance performance of licensees.
She said the “drill-or-drop” framework was active, adding that acreage will be allocated for productive use and not warehousing.
Eyesan also said that the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme was aimed at ensuring that every flare molecule was converted into productive economic value, including electricity, industrial feedstock, fertiliser and petrochemicals.
She highlighted the progress made under the PIA in host-community development, saying 173 Host Community Development Trusts had been incorporated and were supporting 1,168 community-led projects.
According to her, the trusts have committed between 247 million dollars and 340 million dollars to projects, including schools, infrastructure and capacity development.
Looking ahead, Eyesan said the commission would become smarter, fully digital, data-driven and intelligence-led.
“We will enable investment; we will insist on performance; we will accelerate approvals. But we will never compromise standards,” she said.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of awards and recognition, including anniversary honours celebrating regulatory leadership from 1979 to 2025.(NAN)
Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman
English (US) ·