The Federal Government, commending the coming on board of Renaissance Africa Energy, has tasked the organisation to ramp up production of crude oil in facilities under its control.
Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for Petroleum Resources (oil) made this call while receiving management of Renaissance Africa Energy team in his office.
Recall that the Indigenous oil company had recently completed the acquisition of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) after securing regulatory approval. With the acquisition, Renaissance assumes control of SPDC’s onshore assets in Nigeria, covering acreage in the Niger Delta region.
The Renaissance consortium comprises of ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc, FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited, Waltersmith Group, and Petrolin, an international energy firm.
According to Lokpobiri, Nigerians as well as the government have high expectations of the company following the divestment from Shell energy. He said that Shell, when they decided to divest, shut down a couple of wells and did not make any investment for a while.
“Our conviction is that this country will grow better under Renaissance and the other companies that acquired Shell and Mobil. And I have also said more companies should try and acquire onshore and shallow water assets, and as a government, our responsibility is to create the best environment for you guys to truly exhibit what you can offer to Nigeria.
“Having acquired Shell the expectations are also very high. Nigerians are expecting that you guys, will, within the shortest possible time visibly show the expected changes in Shell, ramping up production, which we really, really need. And I’m aware of a couple of shuting wells, you have to re-enter every available well.
“In fact, I’m looking forward to visiting you guys in your office in Lagos, sit with you, let’s know your plan. What is your plan to ramp up? What are you doing now? If you’re doing 200,000 barrels, what can we support you with so that you can do 300? And I know that you can do a lot more. And so, our expectation is that you will have a clear roadmap on the way you want to go and where you want to be,” he said.
Lokpobiri noted that Nigeria’s oil production has stagnated at 1.5 million barrels per day despite a budget benchmark of 2.1 million barrels per for 2025, stating that the takeover of assets belonging to International Oil Companies by Nigerian firms would lead to an increase in oil production.
He pointed out that the takeover of the assets meant critical decisions by the companies would now be taken in Nigeria rather than in far away headquarters.
“Divestment is a global practice. If you want to attract investments, you must also allow people to divest when they want to. I’m proud to say that under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, these divestments were basically one of the obstacles to the flow of investments,” he stated.
He explained that the desire of the government is to see more partnerships to develop the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
If you have an oil well that you think that you are not going to use, you are not going to do any work in the next few years, why don’t you go into a partnership with people who have technical and financial capacity, so that we can add to the barrels that will produce better.
All our problems can be solved once we increase production. We have no business going to Saudi, we have no business going to Middle East, Peru, they have the same resources as we do and even less in some places. So, once we produce a lot more barrels, that will amount to more money for every Nigerian.
“And the President and Nigerians are expecting that you will truly justify the confidence that the country has imposed on you. And we know you did it in Shell, when you were working for the U.S. people and I know that you guys can do it better,” he added.
In his remarks, Tony Attah, CEO of Renaissance noted that the company is a Nigerian company with an objective of performing better than Shell in managing the divested assets.
“Shell did its exploration, exploitation and production to develop its own countries. But we, as Renaissance, are here to do exactly the same business, perhaps do it better to develop our own country, Nigeria. I think, for me personally, that is where the delineation and difference comes in.
“It is about time that Nigeria takes that centre stage where we are called the giants of Africa. I know there are still one or two areas where we can still step forward if you go to the entertainment industry, the telcos perhaps the banking but I think energy is one area where if you look at all the indices we are leading but we are leading based on data. But we want to lead and lead practically and be the energy leader in Africa”, he stated.
