Economy
Ingentia Energies Targets 30,000 bpd Crude Output by 2030
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian upstream petroleum operator, Ingentia Energies Limited, has unveiled an ambitious expansion plan to raise production to 30,000 barrels per day by 2030.
This came as the company met with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) during a recent strategic engagement.
The NUPRC reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening indigenous participation in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry while insisting on strict regulatory compliance, corporate responsibility, and investment in human capital development.
Speaking with Mr Valentine Ugbeide, the chairman of Ingentia Energies Limited and his top management team at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, the agency’s chief executive, emphasised that indigenous operators remain critical to the future growth, sustainability, and survival of Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
Mrs Eyesan said indigenous companies have a major role to play in expanding production, deepening local participation, and driving long-term industry resilience, stressing that even modest production contributions from multiple indigenous operators could significantly boost national output.
According to her, “For the indigenous players, this is a major space. Little drops matter, and when you have many operators contributing consistently, the cumulative impact becomes substantial for national production.”
She commended Ingentia Energies’ leadership for demonstrating seriousness and strategic direction, noting that strong execution capacity, visionary boards, and management commitment are essential for indigenous firms seeking to scale successfully in Nigeria’s competitive oil and gas landscape.
The NUPRC boss, however, warned that growth must be matched with institutional strength, regulatory discipline, and operational structures capable of sustaining long-term industry participation.
She stressed that many indigenous firms often prioritise immediate production and market survival at the expense of building robust internal systems, technical competence, and sustainability structures previously embedded by international oil companies.
“Human capital development is no longer optional. Indigenous companies must deliberately invest in the right capabilities, systems, and structures to remain competitive and sustainable,” she said.
Mrs Eyesan called for stronger collaboration among indigenous operators, regulators, and industry stakeholders to enrich the sector’s resource base and build a more resilient local industry.
She further urged operators to uphold good corporate citizenship by meeting statutory obligations, including the payment of royalties, gas penalties, and other regulatory debts.
On his part, Mr Ugbeide, Ingentia Energies Chairman, in his response, unveiled an ambitious expansion plan to raise production to 30,000 barrels per day by 2030, as the company secured a facility from a Nigerian bank to deepen drilling, end gas flaring, and strengthen its position as a model for local participation in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
Mr Ugbeide said Ingentia’s journey from a challenging indigenous acquisition to a growing production company demonstrates that Nigerian firms can successfully operate strategic upstream assets when backed by the right regulatory support, technical competence, and collaborative governance structure.
Describing the company’s Egbolom field development as a template for indigenous operators, he said Ingentia had overcome formidable structural and financial barriers that were initially designed to frustrate local operators.
“Egbolom has become a role model that mirrors what indigenous companies can achieve despite obstacles. Our success should serve as a blueprint for other local firms,” he said.
He revealed that after demonstrating operational discipline and strong compliance performance, local financial institutions gained confidence in Ingentia’s business model, leading to the recent debt financing.
“We got debt funding from a local bank last week to continue our activities. They saw our performance and began pursuing us because of what we have achieved,” he said.
He added that Ingentia has maintained strong regulatory compliance, including consistent royalty payments and zero defaults on gas flare penalties, while currently flaring between 1.8 million and 3 million standard cubic feet of gas daily.
However, he announced that this would end before year-end as the company finalizes infrastructure with a Chinese technical partner to commercialise its gas resources and supply gas to on-site facilities.
“Before the end of this year, that gas will be fully utilised, and we will stop flaring completely,” he stated.
Mr Ugbeide also highlighted Ingentia’s significant infrastructure investments, including the Ogunokun operational base with jetty and mooring systems, alongside additional investments in drilling sites, accommodation, and logistics support structures.
From an initial workforce of just two staff members, he said the company has grown to over 100 direct and indirect employees, with plans for more aggressive recruitment as production scales from current levels toward 10,000 barrels per day and beyond.
He disclosed that Ingentia plans to drill a minimum of two wells annually, supported by fresh seismic campaigns targeting deeper reservoir opportunities.
“Our target is clear — by 2030, we want to be in the neighbourhood of 30,000 barrels per day,” he said.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentives (Tax Remission) Order, 2026, approved recently by President Bola Tinubu, has been described as a landmark reform that significantly enhances Nigeria’s competitiveness for deep offshore investment and strengthens the nation’s pathway towards achieving its 3 million barrels of oil per day (MMbopd) production ambition by 2030.
The chief executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr Bayo Ojulari, in a statement signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, Mr Andy Odeh, said the development is one of the most significant policy interventions for the upstream sector in recent years.
He thanked Mr Tinubu for his relentless leadership and unwavering commitment to creating an enabling environment for investment and sustainable growth in Nigeria’s energy sector through several Presidential Executive Orders which have strengthened the nation’s oil and gas sector.
“This is a transformative reform that sends a strong signal to global investors that Nigeria is committed to providing a stable, competitive and investment-friendly environment for deep offshore development. Fiscal certainty is a critical driver of investment decisions, and this framework provides the additional clarity the industry has long sought,” he said.
“For NNPC, the order aligns directly with our strategy of protecting our existing production base, accelerating near-term growth, and attracting new investment into high-value assets. It strengthens our confidence in achieving our strategic production ambition of 3 MMbopd while creating greater value for our shareholders and the Nigerian economy,” the NNPC chief added.
Mr Ojulari noted that recent reforms across the petroleum sector have already stimulated more than $34 billion in new investment commitments, stating that the Deep Offshore Incentives Order is expected to build on that momentum by enabling timely FIDs on strategic offshore developments.
The new order establishes a transparent, predictable and globally competitive fiscal framework for qualifying greenfield deep offshore developments. It provides the certainty required to unlock long-term capital, accelerate Final Investment Decisions (FIDs), and maximise value from Nigeria’s offshore resources.
The framework, which reinforces Nigeria’s position as one of the world’s attractive destinations for deep offshore oil and gas development, is expected to unlock over $50 billion in new investments, including major projects starting with Bonga South-West, which was approved in March 2026, and the Zabazaba and Owowo Deep Offshore projects. Bonga South West is expected to be the first FID on a Nigeria deepwater Production Sharing Contract asset since 2008.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The board of Geregu Power Plc has acknowledged the concerns raised by shareholders, stakeholders, as well as regulators over the inability of the company to pay bondholders for their investment in its N40 billion bond sale.
There were reports that the power-generating organisation defaulted in repaying investors who bought its debt instrument.
In 2022, the company issued a seven-year paper to investors at a coupon of 14.5 per cent to be paid semi-annually. The note is expected to mature in July 2029. But data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that there have been defaults in the 8th coupon payment and the 4th bullet principal repayment.
Reacting to the issue on Thursday, Geregu said it is actively having talks with advisers and others on ways to iron things out.
“Geregu remains actively engaged with relevant stakeholders and advisers regarding the resolution of the various challenges and is committed to achieving an orderly and mutually beneficial outcome.
“Discussions and engagements are ongoing, and the Company will continue to act in good faith in fulfilling its responsibilities,” part of the statement signed by its scribe, The Structure HQ, stated.
The firm explained that since assuming responsibility for its affairs, the current board and management have undertaken a comprehensive review and reconciliation of its transactions, liabilities, operational commitments, financing arrangements, financial obligations and related corporate documentation.
It stressed that this action was to ensure transparency, accuracy and prudent financial management, adding that it remains committed to transparency, responsible corporate governance and constructive engagement with all stakeholders.
The majority stake of Geregu Power was controlled by Mr Femi Otedola. He divested his stake in the energy firm in 2025, with the sale of 95 per cent of his shares in Amperion to MA”AM Energy.
Earlier in 2023, he sold N399 million shares of Geregu to another investor. Before then, he sold his stake in Forte Oil to invest in Geregu Power, which now has the former Governor of Zamfara State, Mr Abdulaziz Yari, as its chairman.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A former Commissioner for Insurance of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr Mohamed Kari, has warned the federal government to reduce its intervention in the sector’s post-recapitalisation process.
He charged the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, to ignore calls for regulatory concessions in the just-concluded insurance industry recapitalisation exercise in the country.
The call, he said, was critical, especially when the companies clamouring for such concessions were chronic defaulters whose failure or strict regulatory discipline poses absolutely zero systemic risk to the Nigerian financial system or the broader economy.
Recall that NAICOM had requested insurance companies, as part of the recapitalisation process, to transfer their entire recapitalisation funds into an escrow account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). However, NICON Insurance and Nigeria Re, in a recent petition, had petitioned NAICOM over what they described as unlawful fees and regulatory demands arising from the implementation of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.
Mr Kari, who was also a former chief executive of NICON Insurance and Nigeria Re, said it was globally accepted that a government may occasionally intervene to rescue or support a consequential player in the financial sector, strictly where its distress poses a genuine ‘too big to fail’ systemic risk whose collapse would trigger a wider economic catastrophe.
“However, one must examine the reality of the two institutions in question today. These are no longer the market giants they once were decades ago,” he said.
He warned that having suffered years of steep decline, loss of market share, and severe operational shrinkage, their current market footprint is virtually insignificant.
“Their failure or strict regulatory discipline poses absolutely zero systemic risk to the Nigerian financial system or the broader economy. Why then should government intervene to shield operators whose distress carries no systemic consequence whatsoever?
“Rescuing or granting regulatory concessions to insignificant, chronic defaulters cannot be justified under any sound macroeconomic policy,” he added.
“When political intervention steps in to shield such non-systemic entities from standard regulatory checks, the equilibrium of the market breaks down as it creates unfair advantage.
“Operators that meet compliance targets carry the full cost of regulatory fidelity, while non-compliant firms that secure political exemptions operate with an artificial cost advantage.
“It disincentivises real capacity building: When political lobbying becomes an alternative to recapitalisation, companies are discouraged from making the hard structural choices necessary to refine their balance sheets and operations.”
He noted that if such a concession is granted to both insurance industry players in the defunct, it “distorts investor confidence: Both domestic and international investors look for predictable, transparent environments. A playing field where rules can be bent for select players frightens away patient capital. It weakens policyholder protection.”
