Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, has called on the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to push the petroleum industry harder to hit 2 million barrels per day (bpd).
Edun spoke on Thursday when Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, chief executive officer (CEO) of NUPRC, visited the headquarters of the ministry of finance in Abuja.
“I wish you continued success. What matters is not just reaching certain heights but sustaining it. We don’t want any stopping along the way. The trajectory should be maintained and of course the magic figure is 2mbpd,” Edun said.
According to a statement on Friday by Eniola Akinkuotu, NUPRC spokesperson, Edun also commended the commission for piloting the petroleum sector to achieve a production level of 1.84 million barrels in recent days.
“It is heartening that you can tell us that you are doing 1.84 million barrels per day. That is fantastic news. That is totally in line with the mandate of President Bola Tinubu,” Edun said.
“Clearly, you have started on a very good note. Please keep it up.”
The finance minister also described the war in the Middle East as unfortunate but said President Bola Tinubu had already directed an increase in production prior to the crisis.
Also speaking, Eyesan affirmed that recent daily crude oil production had hit 1.84 million bpd.
“We are doing 1.84 million barrels per day. That is a remarkable feat but I am sure we will do more,” she said.
The NUPRC CEO attributed the prior dip in production in February to some unfortunate incidents at key facilities, along with ongoing turnaround maintenance.
“But all that has been fixed and we are seeing production ramping up,” Eyesan said.
With regards the 2025 licensing round, the NUPRC CEO said the commission is now in the technical and financial stage.
She expressed optimism over the growth of the petroleum sector in the near future especially because of provisions like the “drill or drop” in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which empowers the commission to revoke leases of dormant acreages.
The NUPRC boss said some of the acreages that were put on offer could see production as soon as a year, adding that indigenous companies were showing an impressive capacity.
Eyesan also noted that the commission had fully complied with the executive order 9 of 2026, which directs the immediate suspension of the 30 percent frontier exploration fund (FEF) deduction from oil and gas profits, as well as other management fees, and requires that the funds be paid directly into the federation account.
Nigeria’s crude oil production fell to 1.31 million bpd in February, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) data.
