The Energy Republic July Edition 2022

NIGERIA OIL AND GAS
"Our Main Focus is to Address Oil Theft, Bring More Wells
Online, and Working with Investors On Gas Projects”
The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum explored developments across the
country’s oil and gas market and how global trends are impacting Nigeria in an
exclusive roundtable hosted by AEC. H.E. Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State
for Petroleum Resources of Nigeria, provided insights into the latest across the
country’s oil and gas sector during an exclusive roundtable interview organized
and hosted by the African Energy Chamber on June 24, 2022.
AEC: Oil production in Nigeria has been
on the decline recently. What are the
main constraints causing this and what
strategies are currently being
implemented by the ministry to address
these declines in 2022?
Sylva: The current decline is due to a
junction of many things. We had COVID-
19 and just after coming out of the
pandemic we have the Russian-Ukraine
war which coincides with the upcoming
election in Nigeria, complicating things
for the country’s oil sector. We are trying
to give the country’s oil sector a
makeover. We had outdated laws since
1969 which could not support the
industry further and it took us a long time
to change those laws. However, with the
passing the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA),
we believe that we are ready for
investors. Unfortunately, now that we
are ready, many things including the energy
transition are dwindling interest in the oil
industry. However, with regulatory
institutions enabled by the PIA now in place,
we are seeing interest from investors in
Nigeria and international firms including
Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil who have
committed to making additional investments
in the offshore sector as some of these firms
move away from onshore operations.
AEC: In early June, OPEC agreed to increase
production through August. What is going to
happen beyond August and what is Nigeria’s
position in particular with OPEC?
Sylva: At this moment the prices are fair and
we do not expect to see any surprises beyond
the regular price which we have agreed on.
In terms of production, OPEC is being
expected to pump more but there is very little
additional capacity that can be brought to the
market. Nigeria is at a low point, and we are
not been able to meet our own OPEC level,
which is our biggest headache right now. Our
main focus at the moment is to address oil
theft and we have given ourselves a month to
address this. Due to COVID-19, there was also
a shortage in wells, so we want to bring more
of these wells online and ensure that by end
of August, we are able to produce what is
required by us by OPEC.
Europe is looking for other sources of gas and
Nigeria has been pushing for the Trans-
Saharan gas pipeline to be a major supplier.
How realistic is it to get off the ground
especially with regards to funding?
Sylva: We are quite ready for the project
especially with Europe also ready for our gas.
We have already constructed 614 km of the
pipeline within Nigeria. Algeria also started
construction. It is between the end of Nigeria
in the north through Niger to Algeria that we
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OIL AND GAS REPUBLIC I SPECIAL EDITION