The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has called on financial institutions to support operators in expanding domestic gas production, emphasising the importance of collaboration among regulators, financiers, and industry players in unlocking investment and accelerating growth in the sector.
Commission Chief Executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan made the call when senior executives of Rand Merchant Bank visited the commission’s Abuja headquarters. She said the industry’s appetite for investment was strong, as demonstrated by almost 300 applications from international oil companies and indigenous operators in the ongoing 2025 licensing bid round. She said the commission was committed to ensuring the industry operated in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act and all other regulatory instruments, and looked to the financial sector to be a supportive partner in that journey.
Jonathan Ross, Head of Oil and Gas Coverage at Rand Merchant Bank, said the bank was keen on supporting Nigeria’s efforts to grow oil and gas production with a particular focus on gas development. He described gas as a strategic priority for the bank and cited the OB3 Gas Pipeline as a critical infrastructure project capable of unlocking the country’s vast gas potential. He also acknowledged recent regulatory reforms and improved security in host communities as factors positioning Nigeria more favorably for investment.
Separately, National Bureau of Statistics Statistician-General Adeyemi Adeniran visited the commission and formalized a deeper data-sharing arrangement, announcing a dedicated NBS team that would interact more closely and regularly with the NUPRC on data covering crude production, gas reserves, oil spill incidents, and exploration and production company activities. He said oil and gas contributed significantly to Nigeria’s GDP and that the NBS could not effectively release GDP data without reliable upstream sector data from the commission. He said the bureau was implementing an Integrated System of Administrative Statistics in which 15 government agencies had been onboarded for seamless digital data exchange.
