President Bola Tinubu, ministers in charge of oil and gas, the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Petroleum Commission (NUPRC) and stakeholders in the industry are insisting on adding one million barrels per day of crude to Nigeria’s current output, a development that could increase oil revenue and foreign exchange earnings by $2.4 billion monthly.

The development comes as the country announced, yesterday, the divestment of over $3.6 billion in oil assets from the country after the Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) assets divestment to Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited failed to meet regulatory standards and was rejected.

Nigeria has consistently set many agendas to increase oil production, but most of them have been elusive as the country’s output has been in the region of 1.4 million and failed to meet budget benchmarks in the past few years.

Speaking at the third anniversary of the NUPRC and the launch of the project one million barrels per day, most stakeholders, particularly the industry players, although pledged commitment, touched on the key reasons that could make the plan elusive unless they were urgently addressed.

Tinubu, represented by the Secretary to the Federation, George Akume said the output increase was feasible with existing five orders aimed at incentivising the sector.

Noting that production has moved to 1.6 million barrels per day, Tinubu said all the stakeholders must come together to bring to reality the addition of one million barrels within the coming months.

The Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, noted that the one million barrels per day project came from an industry-wide collaborative effort aimed to unlock incremental oil production in the short to medium term by developing alternative funding mechanisms.

The project, according to him, offers opportunities for various stakeholders, including producers, service providers, rig owners, financiers and crude oil off-takers.

Komolafe said it was designed to boost production, strengthen energy security, and enhance economic resilience, contributing to the nation’s overall interests.

He said over 80 per cent of oil assets divestment from Nigeria had been approved.

These assets include the $1.3 billion ExxonMobil divestment to Seplat, TotalEnergies divestment to Chappal for $860 million, Oando PLC acquisition of shares of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) at $783 million and Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited divestment to Project Odinmin Investments Limited, which was provided at over $700 million.

Out of the five applications for ministerial consent received by the NUPRC, Komolafe said four transactions were approved, passing the rigorous regulatory assessment.