Oil & Energy
Consumers Scare PHEDC Field Workers In Diobu
The field workers of
the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) are scared of entering streets in Mile III Diobu, Port Harcourt for either revenue drive or power disconnection.
A highly placed officer in Diobu Business Unit of the company who revealed this to The Tide Saturday said the company’s staff were afraid of being manhandled by angry youth in the area who had issued a warning to the company that PHEDC field workers should only come into the area when power supply is restored.
According to our source who pleaded anonymity, power supply has been on its lowest ebb in the area since the past three months with most areas not getting light at all.
He said the situation was posing a serious threat to the revenue of the unit and that authorities of the unit were helpless over the situation.
Our source further stated that series of complaints were coming from consumers of electricity in the city especially on the issues of poor supply and crazy bill.
He, however, disclosed that authorities of the company were planning to move into Mile III streets with armed security men to effect revenue drive and power disconnection soon.
Efforts to get reaction of the Business Manager, Diobu Business Unit was not fruitful as he was not in the office when The Tide visited.
Chris Oluoh
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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has unveiled its Gas Master Plan 2026, targeting 10 billion cubic feet of daily gas production to drive industrialisation and strengthen Nigeria’s energy security.
The company’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Andy Odeh, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen, at the Weekend.
The plan, launched at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, signalled a renewed push by the Federal Government and industry stakeholders to translate Nigeria’s vast gas resources into economic value through disciplined execution, infrastructure development and market expansion.
The NNPCL noted that the Gas Master Plan 2026 marks a strategic shift from policy formulation to execution across Nigeria’s gas value chain prioritising cost optimisation, operational excellence and systematic resource development.
The statement quoted the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo as saying “Today’s launch is not merely the unveiling of a document; it represents a deliberate shift towards a more integrated, commercially driven and execution-focused gas sector aligned with Nigeria’s development aspirations.
“Nigeria is fundamentally a gas nation. With one of the largest proven gas reserves in Africa, our challenge has never been potential, but translational”.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bashir Ojulari, described the NGMP 2026 as a bold, execution-anchored roadmap designed to unlock Nigeria’s immense gas potential and elevate the country into a globally competitive gas hub.
Ojulari said, “The Plan is structured not just to deliver – but to exceed- the Presidential mandate of increasing national gas production to 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2027 and 12 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, while catalysing over 60 billion dollars in new investments across the oil and gas value chain by 2030.”
According to the statement, NNPCL estimates that the roadmap could catalyse more than $60 billion in new investments across the oil and gas value chain by the end of the decade.
It said “plan was developed using a collaborative and investor-centric approach, with alignment across operators, partners and financiers.
Key focus areas include gas supply to power generation, compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, Mini-LNG and industrial off takers”.
Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers’ Group, Adegbite Falade, said the plan would help bridge the gap between policy intent and execution.
On his part, the Chairman of the Oil Producers Trade Section, Matthieu Bouyer, the statement said, commended NNPC Ltd for the ambition behind the roadmap.
The Gas Master Plan 2026 outlines ambitious production and investment targets aimed at strengthening domestic supply and boosting exports.
By: Lady Godknows Ogbulu
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has unveiled Its vision for the country’s upstream sector.
This transformative vision rests on three pillars of Production Optimization and Revenue Expansion; Regulatory Predictability and Speed; and Safe, Governed and Sustainable Operations.
The Chief Executive, NUPRC, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, who disclosed this at a stakeholders meeting with members of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), emerging players and other major stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, in Lagos, recently, said this aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda and his plan to hit a production target of 2mbpd by 2027 and 3mbpd by 2030.
Eyesan plans on increasing production and revenue expansion through the recovery of shut-in volumes with economic value, arresting decline, reducing losses, and accelerating time-to-first oil—without increasing burdens or transaction cost.
This, she said, had already begun by recently “turning on the light” in a long shut-in asset.
Eyesan explained that regulatory predictability and speed can be achieved by running regulation like a service, enforcing rules transparently and making quick time-bound decisions.
The new NUPRC boss plans to strengthen governance, process safety, host community outcomes, and encourage decarbonisation through safe, governed and sustainable operations.
“Going forward, the Commission will be measured on the following key success metrics -Faster, predictable regulatory approvals, higher, more secure and sustainable production, credible licensing and disciplined acreage performance, world-class Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) and process safety outcomes, trusted measurement, transparency, governance and data integrity,” she said.
Eyesan promised that under her leadership, the NUPRC would enhance regulatory efficiency and predictability by publishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for all major approvals adding that the timeline to production would be reduced through proactive discussions regarding all necessary approvals, implementation of stage-gate processes, and mutual agreement on timelines with the commission.
She said “Stakeholders are encouraged to submit their projects for consideration. For matured opportunities, please submit your request latest end of Q1, 2026. This would provide a simplified and holistic framework that creates obligations for both operators and the Commission.
“The Commission will launch a digital workflow for permitting, reporting and data submissions. NUPRC will work with the industry to identify capacity gaps and develop tiered intervention in the most critical areas with immediate impact on regulatory efficiency while we harmonize our own internal processes to eliminate conflicting regulatory actions and reduce friction”.
She revealed that the NUPRC’s internal transformation programme through a project Management office is in flight saying “I will provide more details on this in the coming days”.
The NUPRC boss also convened a CCE–Operators Leadership Forum for monthly engagement with participants including all operators of NNPC, OPTS, IPPG, and emerging players adding that it would be focused on approval timelines, production restoration, infrastructure integrity, and gas monetisation and development.
“This is expected to enable the NUPRC to identify systemic bottlenecks and provide greater predictability”, she said .
Eyesan also stressed the need to improve hydrocarbon accounting and measurement by tracking every barrel produced and promptly addressing discrepancies or losses.
On host community, the NUPRC boss encouraged all operators to liaise with the commission “as we plan first engagement with host community leaders to reaffirm commitment to HCDT (Host Community Development Trust) implementation”.
She also said one of her key goals is to ensure 100% to the Petroleum Industry Act within 12 months. This, she said, will be monitored with a dedicated team situated in her office.
“The commission going forward will issue quarterly progress reports. Let therefore bring all high impact shut in fields for approval. “On the Commission’s part, a 90-day program to fast track approvals for near-ready FDPs, well interventions, rig mobilisation and other quick-win opportunities have commenced,” the CCE stated.
Nigeria’s newest Electricity Distribution Company (DisCo), Aba Power, has gained consumers’ commendation for the provision of more smart meters than the other 11 Discos in the country combined in 2025.
The Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria (ECAN), Southeastern Zone, gave the commendation in a statement signed by it’s Chairman, Engr.Joe Ubani, and Secretary, Comrade Chris Okpara, and issued at the end of its first 2026 Executive Committee meeting, held in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, at the weekend.
The statement revealed that all 12 DisCos in Nigeria provided 175,302 meters under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme and 44,104 prepaid meters under the vendor-financed framework as of the third quarter of 2025.
It said “Aba Power alone gave end-users over 100,000 smart meters by the end of last September.This means that Aba Power exceeded its 2025 target of giving its customers 100,000 smart meters by 2025, which many analysts thought was a stretch goal, meaning something that was initially thought to be impossible.
“More importantly, the data shows that Aba Power, despite being Nigeria’s youngest DisCo and the smallest in terms of population and geographical spread as it covers only nine of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State, provided more prepaid meters than the other 11 DisCos combined”.
Citing figures sent monthly to NERC by the Head of the metering team at Aba Power, Engr. Alfred Atega, ECAN noted that the other 11 DisCos were carved out of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and got privatized in November 2013, stating though that the Nigerian government retains 40% shares in each.
The association disclosed that Aba Power was able to provide 122, 464 prepaid meters by the end of last year through vendor-finance arrangements with four Chinese and Nigerian metering firms adding that it supplied 116,883 single-phase meters and 5,581 three-phase meters.
Quoting the Aba Power senior brand and communication manager, Edise Ekong, ECAN explained that this utility metered all 122,464 customers from 27 feeders in and around Aba, Abia State’s economic nerve-centre.
According to the statement, Ekong said “We have actually since this year increased the number of metered customers to 133,000”, stated Ekong, also an engineer, according to ECAN.
“Work is progressing on three feeders, namely, the Omoba Feeder, the Geometric Feeder, and the Polymer Feeder as they have system issues.
“The customers on these feeders will be metered once repair and rehabilitation work on them is concluded”.
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