The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has reported that Federal Government’s ongoing reforms in the nation’s hydrocarbon resources industry are achieving the desired results as Nigeria’s crude oil production has now risen by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), from about 1.2 million barrels to 1.8 million barrels daily.
The company attributed the production increase to the primarily the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, improved investment conditions and stronger collaboration with industry partners, thereby positioning the country to attract new investments from the global energy market.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, made the disclosure on Tuesday during an energy talk titled ‘Nigeria’s Reform Agenda: Competing for Energy Capital,’ at the 2026 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference held in the United Arab Emirates.
The NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Andy Odeh, in a statement issued on the conversations at the forum, quoted Ojulari, who spoke during a session moderated by Chairman, MENA, APCO, John Defterios, as saying that the company is targeting crude oil production of two million barrels per day by 2027, with emphasis on protecting existing production, maintaining infrastructure and accelerating new projects.
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The statement partly reads: “The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited says reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector have added 600,000 barrels per day, raising national crude oil production from about 1.2 million barrels per day to 1.8 million barrels per day and placing the country in a stronger position to attract international energy capital.
“The figure of 1.8 million barrels per day is a stage in a journey towards our objective. We are concentrating on the basics, which are maintaining our infrastructure, protecting base operations and executing the projects that will take production higher”, it added.
Ojulari explained that the company’s management and board were fully committed to delivering on the projections contained in the target set by President Bola Tinubu for the company.
He said that a baseline assessment of NNPCL’s assets and infrastructure had enabled the management to understand the company’s portfolio, identify its strengths and determine areas requiring urgent attention, promising that “our track record will be judged by what is done and not by what is said.”
Speaking on the domestic energy market’s situation, the industry expert noted the removal of the petrol subsidy had been accompanied by a major compressed natural gas initiative aimed at reducing dependence on petrol and diesel as primary energy sources and promoting the use of gas as an alternative.
Ojulari said that more than 400 CNG conversion centres had been established across the country, while over 1,000 trucks used in transporting petroleum products had been converted to run on natural gas, as part of government’s efforts to expand alternative fuel options and reduce the cost of transporting petroleum products following the removal of the subsidy.
While highlighting the progress made so far by the government on major gas infrastructure projects, the NNPCL chief said that the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline was completed in August this year while Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline was expected to begin delivering gas to Abuja before the end of the year.
On the state-owned oil company’s production targets, Ojulari hinted that the NNPCL was targeting national gas output of 10 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2027 and 12 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2030.
The latest crude oil production feat is coming amid Nigeria’s efforts to address the challenge of declining crude oil output over the past years caused by oil theft, pipeline vandalism, underinvestment and operational disruptions.
