Oil & Energy
NNPC Eyes $60bn Investment To Boost Gas, Refining Capacity … Targets 500,000bpd By 2030
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has announced plans to attract a minimum of $60 billion in new investments to boost gas development and expand the nation’s refining capacity by an additional 500,000 barrels per day by the year 2030.
Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Bashir Bayo Ojulari, stated this while receiving the leadership of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on a courtesy visit, in Abuja.
Ojulari explained that the company was mandated to raise crude oil production to three million barrels per day by 2030, grow gas output to 20 billion cubic feet per day, and add 500,000 barrels per day of refining capacity.
According to him, the NNPC is central to the overall gas development for Nigeria, with the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline as the major game changer that will impact the economy significantly.
Ojulari explained that the NNPC gas and new business team is already engaging customers and off-takers to put in place the necessary structures that would drive growth beyond pipeline infrastructure.
According to him, the focus is not only on the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, but also on enabling businesses to thrive through power generation, industrial parks, and compressed natural gas (CNG) expansion projects that would spring up from the initiative.
He added that the company is also working on further expansion of the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS), which currently supplies the western corridor and supports industrialization around Lekki and other parts of the Southwest adding that plans are underway to extend the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) further north, stretching across Africa to Morocco.
Highlighting future opportunities, Ojulari said the company is pursuing strategic partnerships to accelerate growth in the sector.
“In terms of our own aspirations, you saw the mandate we got from the president around when we were appointed, around growing oil production to three million barrels per day by 2030, growing gas production to a minimum of 20 billion cubic feet per day by again, 2020.
“Our aspiration is to pitch that target on the gas. You’ve also noticed the refinery capacity where we are required to have additional refining capacity of 500,000 barrels per day by 2030. And to achieve that, we are required to bring in additional investment of minimum of $60 billion”, he explained.
According to him, NNPCL was also considering the expansion of the West African Gas Pipeline to Morocco, alongside new industrial parks, gas-to-power schemes and compressed natural gas projects to maximise value.
He explained that the company will continue with its reforms to ensure development in the energy sector despite resistance, stressing that transparency and accountability remain at the heart of its operations.
He said the company had already embarked on internal reforms to improve reporting standards and strengthen compliance mechanisms.
“You have my commitment to increase and deepen transparency and accountability. In terms of our full compliance with the NEITI principles and the EITI global standards, you have my full commitment. We will provide all the data required for the 2024 and 2025 audits in the most efficient manner.
“We are now restructuring and resourcing the compliance department to be able to do things more sustainably. I want to hold him personally accountable for compliance in this respect.
“We know that major transformations cannot be achieved without resistance. We are determined to pursue this transformation. There will be bumpy rides, but we are not deterred because this journey is about Nigeria”, he added.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, urged the leadership of NNPCL to restore and sustain critical disclosures that earned the company global recognition as a reform leader.
As Nigeria’s flagship national oil company, Orji said NNPC must stand as a model of transparency, accountability, efficiency, and civic engagement saying “individuals may come and go, but NNPC Limited must endure as a global energy giant”.
Orji noted that recent reforms and investments had increased indigenous ownership of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, stressing that transparency was vital to sustain such gains.
Noting that NNPC had previously set the pace by publishing audited financial statements, monthly operations and production reports, annual statistical bulletins, and FAAC statements, Orji warned that some of these disclosures had become irregular, delayed, or discontinued, creating gaps in public data.
“We respectfully urge NNPC Limited to restore and sustain all discontinued disclosures on its platforms”, he said.
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Nigeria’s growing solar market will take centre stage as the Renewable Energy Forum Africa (REFA) 2026 holds in Lagos on November 25-26 with the backing of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
Organised by the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) and supported by SolarPower Europe, the forum would bring together investors, developers, regulators, utilities and policymakers at the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Victoria Island.
The agency said the forum would strengthen partnerships, attract investment and support Nigeria’s clean energy and local manufacturing ambitions.
REA Managing Director, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, is billed to deliver the keynote address at the opening plenary.
The forum would also examine local manufacturing following the launch of Nigeria’s first privately owned 100MW solar module assembly plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
The event would also feature B2B meetings, an exhibition and the AFSIA Awards on November 25.
It would be noted that Nigeria is West Africa’s leading solar market, with about 618MWp operational capacity, ranking first in the region and eighth in Africa, according to AFSIA.
The country also leads the continent in mini-grid capacity with 132MWp, while its commercial and industrial (C&I) solar capacity stands at 385MWp.
The market is receiving fresh support through the $750m World Bank-backed Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme, targeting 1,350 mini-grids and electricity access for 17.5 million Nigerians.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has appointed eight pre-shipment inspection agents to monitor crude oil and gas exports, alongside two monitoring and evaluation agents to oversee their activities.
The appointments, announced in a notice signed by Aderinola Shonekan, Director of the CBN’s Trade and Exchange Department, took effect on October 2, 2026, under the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme.
The notice directs authorised dealer banks, the Nigeria Customs Service, petroleum regulators, terminal operators and oil and gas companies to comply with the revised arrangements.
The CBN assigned the eight inspection agents to specific crude oil and gas export terminals as part of the revised framework.
The allocations are as follows:
Dakee Engineering and Construction Ltd.: LNG, Escravos (Gas), Bonny River Terminal (BRT) and EGTL.
Trexem Energy Services Limited: Egina, Qua-Iboe and Tulja. Geoscape Limited: Escravos, ERHA, Odudu and FSO Cawthorne.
617 Limited: Bonga, Brass, Usan and Eagle.Robinson International Energy Ltd.: Ugo-Cha, Penington, Aje, Ima, Oyo and Nembe. Trobell International Nigeria Limited: Forcados, Bonny and Okwori.
Integrated Shipping Services Nigeria Ltd.: Akpo, Antan, Okoro, Anyala-Madu and Ebok.
Kephren Business Ltd.: Ukpokiti, Utapate, Yoho, Abo, Agbami, Ajapa, Okono, Okwok and additional marginal streams designated by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The CBN also appointed two monitoring and evaluation agents, the Q&Q Control Services Limited and the Arlington Securitas Nigeria Limited to oversee the inspection companies.
The Q&Q Control Services Ltd. would monitor 617 Limited, Trexem Energy Services Limited, Geoscape Limited and Kephren Business Ltd while the Arlington Securitas Nigeria Limited would monitor Dakee Engineering and Construction Ltd., Trobell International Nigeria Limited, Robinson International Energy Ltd. and Integrated Shipping Services Nigeria Ltd.
The latest appointments follow previous changes to the CBN’s monitoring arrangements for crude oil and gas exports.
The latest changes update the companies responsible for inspecting export cargoes and the terminals assigned to them. The notice requires the relevant institutions and operators to comply with the new allocations from October 2, 2026.
The appointments also come amid growth in Nigeria’s gas export earnings.
According to the CBN, Nigeria’s gas export earnings rose to $2.53 billion in the first quarter of 2026, reflecting stronger earnings from the country’s natural gas sector and contributing to its external trade position.
The revised inspection arrangements place designated agents in charge of specified export terminals, while the monitoring and evaluation companies oversee the inspection agents’ activities under the scheme.
Recall that in May 2024, the apex bank appointed 11 pre-shipment inspection and monitoring agents under the export supervision scheme.
The government subsequently reviewed the allocation of oil export terminals in March 2025, assigning additional terminals to nine inspection agents appointed under the scheme.
In July 2026, the CBN also appointed Candid Oil Services Limited as the pre-shipment inspection agent for the Taurus Oil and Gas Depot.
The Iran war and the lack of LNG supply from the Middle East have upended forecasts of near-term natural gas demand and import costs.
So far this year, economies in Europe and Asia have relied more on renewables and coal for power generation to offset reduced gas supplies procured at very high prices.
This year’s crisis has prompted governments to rethink energy policies with energy security the top priority, again, after the 2022-2023 energy crisis.
After the decline in global gas demand this year, due to prices at four-year highs, the obvious question for gas market participants is where demand is going after the current crisis ends. Has the second gas crisis in four years permanently undermined expectations of long-term gas demand growth?
Gas cannot be replaced in many industrial processes, yet. Electricity-generating systems in major economies that have relied on gas for power cannot have a reliable electricity supply without gas.
Still, this year and over the past four years, key gas markets in Europe and Asia have seen the share of gas in their electricity mix decline.
The UK, the Netherlands, and Turkey, and major Asian economies China, Japan, and South Korea, have all seen the share of gas-fired electricity drop, according to data from think tank Ember cited by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.
The spike in natural gas prices has accelerated Europe’s renewables rollout, which took off in earnest earlier this decade when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and cut off pipeline gas supply to most of Europe. The share of renewables has surged in the EU and the UK in recent years, gradually sidelining gas as the reliable backup fuel rather than the one meeting growing electricity demand.
Globally, “Gas is losing its share in the global power mix as renewables increasingly meet rising electricity demand,” Ember said in a report earlier this year. The analysis found that the share of gas in the global power mix declined for the fifth consecutive year in 2025, despite a small rise in absolute gas generation. Strong growth in clean power, led by solar and wind, met around 68% of global electricity demand growth over the five years to 2025, reducing the need for a significant rise in gas power generation
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According to Ember, 61 out of 124 economies generating electricity from gas had passed their gas generation peak.
However, these countries accounted for around one-fifth of global gas-fired electricity generation in 2025. So the large gas-generating economies, albeit a smaller group, haven’t seen their peak in gas power generation.
The biggest emerging economies, China, India, and Brazil, have actually met their surging electricity demand without turning to gas, Ember noted.
China’s gas share remained close to 3% of the electricity mix in 2025 despite rapid demand growth, while gas power generation in India and Brazil plays a more limited balancing role, the think tank said.
“The economics and energy security case for electricity are increasingly moving in the same direction,” said Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, ?Senior Electricity Analyst at Ember.
“As renewables lower costs and reduce exposure to fuel price shocks and geopolitical disruptions, gas is steadily losing the advantages that once made it the default fuel for power system growth.”
The writing may have been on the wall for natural gas producers and exporters if natural gas was only used in power generation.
But natural gas key uses include as feedstock in industrial manufacturing, including cement and steel, as a chemical feedstock for fertilizer, or as the start of the supply chain of manufacturing plastics, paints, synthetic fabrics, and medicine, to name a few.
And then comes the biggest twist in energy and electricity demand forecasts in recent years—the AI boom. Data centers will drive a large part of the rise in global electricity demand, which has returned to growth even in the U.S. and Europe after a decade or so of flatlining. Renewable energy alone will not meet the surge in power demand, and gas will play a key role in America and in most of Asia, where many countries are positioning to become AI and data center hubs.
The biggest LNG producers, exporters, and traders see long-term gas demand growth intact despite this year’s supply shock that is reducing consumption amid spiking prices.
For example, Shell, the world’s biggest LNG trader, said in its annual LNG Outlook 2026 this summer that surging gas demand in South and Southeast Asia would push global LNG demand up by 65% by 2050 from 2025 levels, although growth this year has been stalled by the Strait of Hormuz crisis.
Shell sees global LNG demand increasing to nearly 700 million tons annually by 2050, up by around 65% from the 2025 levels of 422 million tons.
“The conflict created a system-wide shock with disruption cascading across all segments of the economy, but the LNG industry has proved resilient and able to adapt to changing market conditions,” Cederic Cremers, President of Integrated Gas at Shell, commented in the outlook.
“While more investment in both supply and demand infrastructure is needed, the long-term outlook remains strong and LNG will continue to be a stabilising force in the global energy system.”
The International Gas Union (IGU) said in its 2026 World LNG Report in July that “while LNG industry is not immune from the challenges of operating in an era of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, its unique ability to re-distribute large quantities of clean-burning energy from a broadening supply base only enhance LNG’s role as a ‘shock absorber’ to the global economy.”
By; Tsvetana Paraskova
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