The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has announced that local content in the nation’s hydrocarbon resources industry has now reached 56%, with promising prospects that current reforms in the industry will further raise the percentage in the months ahead.
The Executive Secretary of the Board, Felix Ogbe, who made this disclosure during a media briefing on the upcoming fifth edition of the 2025 Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair, scheduled for May 21-22 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, restated the commitment of the Board to attracting new local investments into Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
Noting that the three Presidential directives on the industry have opened new opportunities for investors in the industry, the Executive Secretary pointed out that the directives had helped in unlocking fresh investments and driving growth in the sector.
He said: “We are glad to mention that with our efforts, the level of local content in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria has reached 56 per cent as of the last count we had. The review is ongoing right now to enable us to determine where we are in terms of the percentage of local content we have achieved up to date. So, the last count is 56 per cent of local value created.”
The industry expert explained that at the 2023 NOGOF, over 100 investment opportunities were presented by companies and that some of the projects showcased at the event, including the Ubeta and Bonga North, had been executed.
Ogbe clarified: “NOGOF provides opportunities for companies in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors to showcase their upcoming projects. The aim is to achieve our national aspirations of increasing gas and crude oil production, boosting revenue, and meeting domestic crude oil and gas supply obligations.
“This enables service companies, manufacturers, oil and gas trainers, and job seekers to invest in facilities and capabilities that will domicile most of the activities in the country”, he added.
In his address at the forum, the Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr Wole Ogunsanya, commended the NCDMB for growing the oil and gas value chain in the country, forecasting that local content in the sector is expected to grow more based on the recent acquisition of oil and gas assets by local companies from International Oil Companies (IOCs).
The PETAN leader explained: “What it means is that in the ExxonMobil deal, the 40 per cent of the oil that used to go to ExxonMobil and they take it outside Nigeria, will now reside in Nigeria. For the SPDC deal, 45 per cent of its profit will now be with Renaissance, which is an Indigenous company. That is what local content is all about.”
