The Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) says its members have invested about 10 billion dollars in oil and gas production in Nigeria from 2003 till date.
The group, made up of 24 indigenous oil and gas companies, also pledged to support the smooth implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to attract more investment to the sector.
Mr Abdulrazaq Isa, Chairman, IPPG, made this known during an engagement between the group and Mr Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Friday in Lagos.
Isa said the indigenous oil companies contribution to Nigeria’s oil production was 252,000 barrels per day and 650MMscf/d of gas.
According to him, this translate to 14 per cent and nine per cent of national oil and gas production respectively.
He expressed optimism that the companies would be responsible for 100 per cent of 1.2 million barrels per day refining capacity in the near future.
Isa said the LPG fully aligns with the government’s “Decade of-Gas” initiative as it seeks to-utilise the nation’s abundant gas resources to power the economy and address underlying issues.
“We are fully aligned to global decarbonisation initiatives and adoption of renewable energy.
“With the current global shift to cleaner energy sources, Nigeria can utilise its domestic gas reserves as a lower-carbon bridge to energy transition.
” Ultimately, gas must serve as the transition feedstock for Nigeria and facilitate the transition to larger scale renewable energy.
“Government international advocacy drive is required for gas to be considered as a transition fuel in order to attract investment into the sector,” he said.
Isa listed some of the challenges faced by the companies to include gas pricing, crude oil theft, security, high operating cost, long contracting cycle and crude handling charges.
He said with the ongoing divestment by some International Oil Companies due to global energy transition, it was imperative that the government set up an energy bank to finance projects in the oil and gas sector.nan
