FG: Era of Holding Nigeria’s Oil, Gas Assets as Souvenirs Over
*Drill-or-drop policy: Operators returning assets voluntarily, says Lokpobiri *Explains how exit of EPC firms pushed up project costs *Kachikwu: How govt interference delayed decisions as NNPC GMD *Ekpo: Nigeria’s
The Nigerian government has declared an end to the era of oil companies holding petroleum assets without developing them, enforcing the drill-or-drop provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). According to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, this policy has empowered the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to recover undeveloped assets and make them available to investors willing and able to develop them.
Former NNPC GMD, Prof. Ibe Kachikwu, noted that cumbersome approval processes and government interference during his tenure delayed decisions and constrained investment. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, emphasized the need to translate Nigeria's 215 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves into higher domestic supply, stronger infrastructure, and industrial growth over the next five years.
Brief written by urgent.news from This Day's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
