The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has accused regulators of undermining President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive on timely project execution, warning that persistent delays in tendering, approval and contract execution are stalling projects and worsening Nigeria’s production gap.

Speaking at the local content session of the ninth Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) 2026, in Abuja, yesterday, PETAN Chairman, Wole Ogunsanya, said the implementation of the presidential directive mandating the conclusion of oil and gas tenders within six months was below expectations.

This, he said, has created a widening gap between policy intent and project delivery. He noted that the directive was yet to be fully implemented across the industry.

“Some of the directives given by the President that we should be concluding tenders within six months are not happening; many of these processes are still dragging on,” he said.

He said PETAN has been actively monitoring contracting activities across the industry and tracking live tenders, revealing systemic execution failures that are delaying final investment decisions (FIDs) and pushing project timelines further out.

“This time, we are monitoring every tender that is going on. We have projects that are supposed to start in 2026 and 2027,” he said.

He noted that the association identified prolonged internal approvals, slow commercial negotiations, extended regulatory and compliance processes and delays in funding as core bottlenecks choking execution across the upstream sector.

Ogunsanya faulted regulators for failing to translate reform policies into actions, warning that regulatory inertia is suppressing investments and discouraging companies prepared to commit capital and expand operations.

“We don’t want portfolio companies. We want companies that are investing. We want companies that want to grow and we cannot suppress them with policies that fall out,” he insisted.

He noted that contracting delays have direct cost implications, increasing unit production costs and weakening Nigeria’s competitiveness in a global market that quickly reallocates supply.

Using comparative data from Mexico and Venezuela, Ogunsanya said Nigeria’s situation is particularly concerning because, unlike countries that suffered sharp production collapses, Nigeria’s decline is being driven largely by execution failures rather than resource constraints.

“The oil and gas industry is ready to welcome anybody who wants to crash their production. Other countries will take it off and the oil price will go higher. You are the one who will not get out of it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said Nigeria is leveraging its gas resources as a central pillar of its Energy Transition Plan and broader industrial agenda.

Ekpo said the gas value chain, spanning power generation, clean cooking, fertilisers, petrochemicals, methanol and compressed natural gas for transportation, presents significant opportunities for job creation, industrial clustering and regional integration.

“These opportunities, however, can only be sustained if local companies possess the requisite skills, technology, financing and governance standards to compete at scale,” he noted.