The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, has called for stronger collaboration across Nigeria’s energy industry, saying strategic partnerships are essential to unlocking Africa’s vast energy potential, attracting investment and driving sustainable industrial growth.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 25th NOG Energy Week at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja on Tuesday, Ojulari outlined NNPC Ltd’s achievements over the past year and presented the company’s strategic vision for Nigeria’s energy future.
He said NNPC recorded an average 98 per cent operational recovery across its five crude oil export terminals between April 2025 and May 2026, a significant improvement from the operational low of about one per cent recorded at the Bonny Oil and Gas Terminal in June 2022.
Ojulari also announced that Nigeria’s crude oil production has increased to 1.71 million barrels per day, the highest level in five years, while NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL) achieved a record output of 365,000 barrels per day.
According to him, gas production has risen to 7.5 billion standard cubic feet per day following the completion of the River Niger crossing on the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and the commissioning of the ANOH Gas Processing Plant.
He disclosed that NNPC maintained 100 per cent compliance with all Joint Venture cash call obligations throughout 2025 and up to June 2026, while sustaining efforts to increase crude oil production to two million barrels per day.
Ojulari further revealed that the company signed landmark Gas Sale and Purchase Agreements (GSPAs) since the last NOG Energy Week, covering 1.29 billion standard cubic feet per day for long-term LNG feed gas and 750 million standard cubic feet per day for domestic industrial gas supply to DFL FZE and Dangote Refinery.
He said the agreements are expected to unlock more than $20 billion in investments, with seven additional commercial transactions currently in the pipeline.
On corporate governance, the NNPC boss said the company resumed full monthly remittances to the Federation Account in July 2025, reinstated monthly business performance reporting and held its first-ever earnings call in November 2025 as part of efforts to strengthen transparency, accountability and investor confidence.
Ojulari urged stakeholders across the energy value chain to move beyond transactional relationships and embrace strategic partnerships capable of building integrated value chains and competitive industrial economies.
“At NNPC Limited, we see ourselves not just as an energy producer but as an ecosystem builder—connecting capital, technology, policy, talent and markets to create lasting value for Nigeria and Africa,” he said.
He noted that fragmented collaboration remains one of the major obstacles to Africa’s energy transformation, citing weak linkages among resource owners, operators, investors, policymakers and technology providers as factors limiting growth.
Despite Africa holding about 17 per cent of global natural gas reserves alongside abundant oil and renewable energy resources, Ojulari said the continent continues to attract only a fraction of global energy investment.
He called on governments, national oil companies, regulators, investors, financiers, academia and service providers to work together to position Africa as a global hub for energy investment, innovation and value creation.
“The future of African energy will not be determined solely by the resources beneath our soil, but by the quality of the partnerships we forge above it. The opportunity before us is extraordinary. The responsibility is ours. And the time to act is now,” he said.
The 25th NOG Energy Week, regarded as Africa’s leading oil, gas and energy conference and exhibition, brings together global energy leaders, policymakers, investors and innovators to discuss the future of energy, sustainability and industrial development across Nigeria and the continent.
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