The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government and regulators to remove oil operators that lack the technical capacity to develop their assets, saying this is necessary for the country to achieve its target of raising crude oil production to three million barrels per day by 2030.

The President of PETAN, Wole Ogunsanya, made the call at the just-concluded Energy Leaders Summit organised by The Energy Year in Lagos, where he said some oil assets with significant production potential had been awarded to companies that lacked the expertise and capacity to maximise them.

Ogunsanya said Nigeria currently has an opportunity to significantly increase production, noting that several deepwater projects are expected to commence drilling before the end of the year. “We have a bunch of assets awarded to companies that do not have the expertise to handle those assets.

“People raise money; they don’t have what it takes to do it. I always say this, and sometimes I say it the way I say it as much as I can. So, we’ve got assets that have huge potential awarded to people who were not prepared or did not have the expertise to do it before.

“And that’s why we are behind in some of the production, even where we had the assets that should be producing two or three times what they are producing, and for years, even when we bought these assets, they were producing less than the volume that we bought them at.”

The PETAN president urged the regulators and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to ensure that oil assets were transferred to operators with the requisite technical and financial capacity where existing operators failed to deliver.

“We are going to rely on NNPC. We are going to rely on the regulators. Policies are coming up now. If you cannot produce the asset, they are going to take it from you.

“If the regulators are serious about increasing this production, it’s to ensure that the assets will be handed over to the people that have the capacity to do them. We just did a bid round with a lot of stories around it. Another one is coming. If we truly want to increase oil and gas production in Nigeria, let’s give those assets to people that have the capacity to do them,” he emphasised.

Nigeria has set an ambition to raise crude oil production to about three million barrels per day by 2030, from the current level of between 1.7 million and 1.8 million barrels per day, according to Ogunsanya.

He said the target was ambitious but achievable, citing increased activity in the deepwater, land and swamp areas. “There is a lot of FID in the deepwater; there is a bunch of fields that are being awarded on land and swamp,” he said.

He also identified the planned development of shallow-water assets as another major opportunity for increased production, citing Seplat Energy and Renaissance Africa Energy as examples.

According to him, Seplat, which acquired ExxonMobil’s Nigerian shallow-water assets, has access to funding through its London listing and could increase production from the assets.

“That asset was producing at a time over 300,000 barrels under ExxonMobil. I think they tried to push about 200,000 barrels a day,” Ogunsanya said.

He noted that Renaissance, which acquired Shell’s onshore and shallow-water assets, is also increasing its drilling activity.

“As for Renaissance, some of us have engaged them. They are doing a lot to find partners to develop a number of their fields. They are moving from about eight or nine rigs to about 23 rigs. That is moving already now, so we are expecting probably another 350–400,000 barrels from that,” he disclosed.

Ogunsanya said funding remains another major challenge confronting operators seeking to increase production, stressing that the government needed to create an environment capable of attracting investment.

“I’m going to advise the government to ensure that the environment is convenient enough. Nigerian credibility should be strong enough to ensure we can attract funding. The operators are serious about helping us to improve gas production in Nigeria. So funding is a critical point for me that we need to cover,” he said.

On gas production, the PETAN president called for greater investment in pipeline infrastructure and increased development of non-associated gas.

Ogunsanya also pointed to the growing refining capacity in Nigeria, saying the country could soon have substantial domestic refining capacity alongside its crude export potential.

He noted that Dangote Petroleum Refinery currently had a 650,000 barrels-per-day capacity, with plans to increase it, while BUA was developing additional refining capacity, and several modular refineries were operating across the country.

Meanwhile, the Technical Director at Navante Oil and Gas, Emeka Onwuechi, called for greater collaboration between energy producers and indigenous oilfield service companies to deepen local capacity.

Onwuechi said Nigeria still relied heavily on foreign service centres and expatriate expertise for some critical oilfield equipment and services.

He said the country lacked sufficient capacity to manufacture some critical equipment, including Christmas trees, forcing operators to depend on facilities outside Nigeria.

“For instance, currently in-country, we have no capacity to do things like Christmas trees. We still have to rely on maybe some service centres like Angola,” Onwuechi said.

He urged international oil companies to establish more facilities and develop infrastructure in Nigeria to support upcoming projects and create sustainable local capacity.

A Partner at Dentons ACAS-Law, Josephine Udonsak, stressed the importance of proper project preparation, stakeholder engagement and early involvement of regulators and advisers in energy projects.

She said project developers need to understand regulatory and financing requirements before structuring deals, rather than bringing advisers into projects after key decisions have already been made.

“I think the foundation needs project preparation, and that’s so key. And what does that entail? It entails stakeholder engagement,” Udonsak said.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of First Trustees Limited, Ereifemi Akeredolu, has said sustainable growth in Nigeria’s agricultural sector requires more than funding, stressing the need for clear responsibilities, sound governance and proper risk allocation.

Akeredolu stated this at the maiden Commercial Trust Colloquium organised by First Trustees Limited, a subsidiary of FirstHoldCo Plc, in Lagos, according to a statement on Friday.

The colloquium, themed “Beyond Intervention Funds: Building Sustainable Financing Models for Nigerian Agriculture,” brought together stakeholders from the public and private sectors to discuss financing options for the agricultural sector.

She said the availability of capital alone was not sufficient to guarantee sustainable growth, noting that investors were more likely to commit funds when risks were properly understood, and the structures surrounding transactions were reliable.

“In my work across trust and financial services, I have seen that sustainable growth is rarely the result of funding alone. Capital moves more confidently when responsibilities are clear, risks are properly understood, governance is sound, and all parties can rely on the structures around a transaction,” Akeredolu said.

According to her, trust institutions have a role to play in establishing accountability, protecting the interests of parties involved in transactions and ensuring that agreed obligations are fulfilled. She said such functions could help create structures capable of supporting long-term investment in agriculture.

The discussions at the colloquium focused on financing models beyond government intervention funds, with participants examining issues around agricultural value chains, risk allocation, productivity and private-sector investment.

The stakeholders also considered ways of developing financing structures that could attract long-term private capital to viable businesses across the agricultural value chain.

Agriculture remains a major contributor to Nigeria’s food supply, employment and industrial activities, while access to sustainable financing remains a key challenge for businesses operating across the sector.

The event also featured the unveiling of an upgraded digital platform by First Trustees, which the company said would digitise some of its trust-service processes and reduce paperwork and documentation requirements.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery supplied more petrol to the Nigerian market than all importers combined in August, as domestic Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) receipts rose sharply while imports fell, according to the latest data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.

According to the NMDPRA’s August 2026 State of the Midstream and Downstream Sector factsheet released on Thursday, domestic PMS receipts increased from 25.8 million litres per day in July to 35.9 million litres per day in August.

Over the same period, petrol imports dropped from 19.7 million litres per day to 14.6 million litres per day. This means domestic PMS receipts exceeded imports by 21.3 million litres per day in August.

Overall, the country received 50.5 million litres of petrol daily during the month, representing an 11 per cent increase from the 45.5 million litres recorded in July.

The NMDPRA figures showed that domestic supply accounted for about 71 per cent of the total PMS receipts in August, while imports accounted for the remaining 29 per cent.

The report read, “PMS daily receipts increased by 11 per cent, rising from 45.5 million litres per day in July to 50.5 million litres per day in August. Domestic PMS receipts rose by 39 per cent, from 25.8 million litres per day in July to 35.9 million litres per day in August.

“Over the same period, PMS imports declined by 26 per cent, from 19.7 million litres per day to 14.6 million litres per day. Domestic PMS receipts exceeded petrol imports by 21.3 million litres per day in August.

“PMS consumption declined by 14 per cent, from 48.3 million litres per day in July to 41.5 million litres per day in August.”

The development marks another shift in the structure of Nigeria’s petrol supply, as the country continues to reduce its dependence on imported refined petroleum products following the commencement of operations at the 700,000-barrel-per-day Dangote refinery.

The NMDPRA data also showed that the Dangote refinery produced an average of 41.94 million litres of PMS daily in August, of which 35.87 million litres were supplied to the domestic market, while 9.73 million litres were exported.

The refinery also ended August with 360.4 million litres of PMS in stock. The refinery’s average capacity utilisation was put at 105.21 per cent during the month, highlighting its growing contribution to domestic fuel supply.

The August figures came as total PMS receipts increased by 11 per cent from 45.5 million litres per day in July to 50.5 million litres per day in August.

However, the increase in supply was accompanied by a 14 per cent fall in recorded domestic PMS consumption, which declined from 48.3 million litres per day in July to 41.5 million litres per day in August.

The regulator said its consumption figures were based on volumes trucked out into the domestic market.

The changing supply pattern comes against the backdrop of the Federal Government’s push to increase domestic refining and reduce Nigeria’s long-standing dependence on imported petroleum products.

The August data also showed a broader increase in crude supplied to domestic refineries. Crude oil receipts rose by 17 per cent from 585,000 barrels per day in July to 683,000 barrels per day in August.

Between January and August, domestic refineries received 137.98 million barrels of feedstock, comprising 109.88 million barrels of domestic crude and 28.10 million barrels of imported seaborne crude.

Domestic crude therefore accounted for 79.64 per cent of the total refinery feedstock during the eight-month period, while imported crude made up 20.36 per cent.

The regulator also reported that petrol stock sufficiency improved marginally from 22.4 days in July to 22.9 days in August.

The data further showed a sharp decline in diesel imports, with Automotive Gas Oil imports falling by 84 per cent from 7.9 million litres per day in July to 1.3 million litres per day in August. Domestic AGO supply also declined by 16 per cent to 13.2 million litres per day.

Meanwhile, aviation fuel receipts rose by 63 per cent from 1.9 million litres per day to 3.1 million litres per day. The latest figures indicate that the growing output of domestic refineries is beginning to reshape the balance between locally refined petroleum products and imported supplies.

For petrol, the August figures put domestic supply ahead of imports by a wide margin, with the Dangote refinery alone recording domestic PMS receipts of 35.87 million litres per day, compared with total petrol imports of 14.6 million litres per day.

The development could further reduce the volume of foreign-refined petrol required to meet Nigeria’s domestic demand if domestic refining output and crude supply remain sustained.