Nigeria’s President-elect, Tinubu vows to increase crude oil output to 2.6mbpd, complete OB3, TNGP, AKK pipelines, other in 4 years

Oredola Adeola

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s President-Elect, in his election victory speech has promised to build a brighter, more productive, and prosperous economy, with the commitment to his renewed hope action agenda, which includes, the plan to increase the country’s crude oil production to 2.6million barrels per day(mbpd) by 2027 and 4mmbpd by 2030 and the completion of critical gas infrastructure projects, including Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline (OB3), Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline, Escravos Lagos pipeline system (ELPS) II, Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline).

Asiwaju Tinubu, All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, restated this commitment on Wednesday while delivering his acceptance speech after he was declared winner of the February 2023, Presidential election by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

According to him, when Nigerians gaze upon what his administration planned to accomplish in the coming years, they shall speak with pride at being a Nigerian.

Tinubu had in his Renewed Hope Action Plan for a better Nigeria seen by EnergyDay, promised to focus more on exporting more resources and importing less, as well as strengthening both the Naira and the citizen’s way of life.

Tinubu in the agenda promised to increase crude oil production to 2.6million barrel per day(mbpd) by 2027 and 4mmbpd by 2030.

The President-elect in the statement said, “Our plan is to create an industry that successfully utilizes its vast resources, takes advantage of high oil prices to generate necessary revenue for successful diversification, and ensures self-sufficiency in meeting the demand for petroleum products and eliminating periods of scarcity.

“To maximise the growth and development benefits of this vital sector, our administration will increase domestic crude production. We must have greater success in deterring crude oil theft and preventing vandalism of our pipelines, crude infrastructure and assets.

“Therefore, we will establish a Special Enforcement and Monitoring Unit whose sole mandate will be to protect the nation’s pipelines by deploying technological interventions (stationary aerial monitoring platforms, drones) towards curbing production disruptions.

“Technological assets will be used to surveil and track the movement of vessels and to provide real-time, immediate notification of any breaches or ruptures of pipelines or other facilities.

“In addition, we will provide new incentives to boost investment in the sector. We shall focus more investment on frontier oil and gas exploration, particularly in as-yet untapped parts of the country (for example within the Lake Chad basin).

“To increase our refining capacity, we will explore public-private partnerships in this area. We will consider, as a model, joint venture partnership arrangements entered into between other leading oil producing states and global petrochemical firms.

INCREASE INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION AND HOST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Tinubu in the action plan promised to increase the indigenous share of crude oil production to over 1mbpd by 2027.

According to the plan, “We will, further, implement incentives to encourage indigenous participation and mandate IOCs to assign a share of revenues towards knowledge sharing and technology transfer to indigenous companies.

“We will fully implement the Host Community Development Trust which mandates greater assistance and cooperation by oil companies with host communities, particularly in the areas of environmental protection, preservation, and rejuvenation.

DOMESTIC GAS POTENTIAL ( FULL DEREGULATION OF MIDSTREAM GAS PRICES WITHIN 6 MONTHS

On the plan to harness domestic gas potential, Tinubu in the plan promised to achieve full deregulation of midstream gas prices within 6 months, to increase gas production by 20% and complete critical gas infrastructure projects by 2027.

Tinubu in the action plan said, “To realize the potential of the gas industry in a world that seeks cleaner sources of energy, we will accelerate the implementation of the Nigeria Gas Master Plan and fully develop and modernise our regulatory framework for natural gas production.

“To ramp up domestic supply, we will complete critical gas infrastructure projects, including pipeline infrastructure (e.g. Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline (OB3), Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline, Escravos Lagos pipeline system (ELPS) II, Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline) and the seven key gas development projects.

“We will also explore the expansion of such projects to other states. To further optimise gas production, we
shall, on the one hand, enforce gas flaring penalties, while on the other, offer tax credits or similar incentives to companies that achieve reasonable flare reduction targets.

“Producers will be required to submit natural gas flare elimination and monetisation plans to the government
and will be mandated to install metering equipment on all facilities where gas flaring may occur.

“A special investigation/enforcement unit will be established to monitor gas flaring activities and assess compliance with the PIA’s provisions on the reduction of gas flaring and the impact of any non-compliance on affected communities.

IMPLEMENT POLICY REFORM

Tinubu said, “Non-compliance will be met with financial penalties which shall be used solely for the development and environmental relief of the affected communities.

“Accelerate full implementation of the PIA and implement additional favourable policies to attract investment in Deepwater assets within 6 months.

“We will hasten the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and implement favourable policies to stimulate investment in deep-water assets such as encouraging negotiations regarding signature bonus payment and/or deferral of the payment post development, royalty reliefs amongst others.

FULL DEREGULATION OF DOWNSTREAM SECTOR

He further promised to ensure the stability of petroleum product supply by fully deregulating the downstream sector and ensuring that local refinery capacity will meet domestic consumption needs.

This according to him include the plan to phase out the fuel subsidy yet maintain the underlying social contract between the government and the people.

He said, “We will do this by dedicating the money that would have been used on the subsidy to fund targeted infrastructural, agricultural, and social welfare programs ranging from road construction to boreholes, public transportation subsidies, and education and healthcare funding programs.

“In this way, the funds are more directly and better utilised to address urgent social and economic needs. Our planned approach will not only mitigate the price effects of deregulation but will also result in the significant expansion of public infrastructure and improvement of public well-being.

“Subsidy removal and deregulation are, however, only part of the solution. To further increase our refining capacity, we shall focus on the rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries and shall consider, as a model, the joint venture partnership arrangements implemented by other leading oil producing states and global petrochemical firms.

INCREASE INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

Tinubu in his action plan promised to secure Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and international partnerships towards financing infrastructure development.

He said, “We will seek to strengthen our partnership with key producers in order to modernise our oil infrastructure. For example, Saudi Aramco’s Tera Powers Reservoir modelling platform could aid our industry in finding additional oil and gas deposits.

The President-elect in the action plan noted that Saudi Aramco’s master gas system has been successful in establishing low-cost and clean fuel gas, adding that Nigeria under his administration can also reap benefits from such a system.