Olu Verheijen, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on energy, said the president has directed that the contracting and project delivery timelines in the oil and gas sector be reduced from 36 months to six months.
Verheijen unfolded the plans of the Tinubu administration at a briefing in Abuja on Friday.
The briefing was attended by the special adviser to the president on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Temitope Ajayi, and other top government functionaries.
She said: “The president has issued directives to reduce contracting timelines and project delivery. Benchmarking and analysis revealed that the contracting cycle takes up to 36 months. This directive should have the effect of compressing this cycle to less than six months in line with global averages.
“This will expedite the delivery of oil and gas products to the market and enhance overall value for the country.”
She said the Tinubu administration opted for fiscal incentives in the oil and gas sector to attract investments.
She also said the government was seeking ways to grow revenue and foreign exchange to stabilise the economy and currency.
She said enhanced security measures in the Niger Delta has led to increase in liquids of over 200,000 barrels/day over the last six months.
She said the stability in the oil producing areas has increased the availability of NLNG Trains 1-6 from 57% in 2023 to 70% in Q1 2024.
But she said the removal of fuel subsidy was still on course.
The energy adviser said the government was working hard to make Nigeria the preferred destination for oil and gas investments in Africa.
She said: “We are faced with a revenue crisis which is impacting all Nigerians. To urgently address this, President Bola Tinubu is actively seeking ways to grow revenue and fore to stabilise our economy and currency.
“The oil and gas sector is critical to our ability to do so. However, our current oil and gas production and investment levels fall significantly short of our potential.
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“Since 2016, Nigeria has only accounted for only four percent (4%) of Africa’s total oil and gas investments, despite possessing thirty-eight percent (38%) of the continent’s hydrocarbon reserves.
“His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is determined to re-write this narrative. His focus is to remove obstacles to investments in Nigeria; improve the investment climate; position Nigeria as the preferred investment destination for the oil & gas sector in Africa; diversify the economy for the benefit of all Nigerians.
“To achieve these objectives, Mr. President has: Issued a Presidential Directive to streamline and clarify the scope of the two Regulators in the petroleum sector to provide certainty and create a conducive business environment.
“Directed the NSA and Special Adviser on Energy to coordinate enhanced security measures in the Niger Delta.
“Owing to this directive, the TNP pipeline which had been repeatedly vandalized is now enjoying improved uptime; availability has practically doubled since these directives were implemented.
“This has translated to increased liquids of over 200,000 barrels/day being transported over the last 6 months. It has increased the utilization of NLNG Trains 1-6 from 57% in 2023 to 70% in Q1 2024.”
On tapping the country’s gas potential, Verheijen said part of the objective of the fiscal incentives that the president recently signed was to reverse over 70% undeveloped gas reserves.
