By Adedapo Adesanya

ExxonMobil is planning a $1.5 billion investment in deepwater exploration and development of the Usan oilfield in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) revealed this in a statement, noting that commitment will be implemented between this current quarter (Q2 2025) and 2027.

This announcement, it said, was made during a visit by ExxonMobil’s Managing Director in Nigeria, Mr Shane Harris, to the Commission’s Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Mr Gbenga Komolafe.

The company proposed a Final Investment Decision (FID) for late Q3 2025, subject to final Field Development Plan (FDP) approval as well as internal and partner funding approvals, the upstream regulator added.

According to the NUPRC, this is in addition to investment targeted at the accelerated development of the Owowo and Erha deepwater oil fields, amongst others.

Mr Harris, while speaking, stated that the planned capital deployment reflects ExxonMobil’s confidence in Nigeria’s upstream potential and its dedication to playing a pivotal role in the sector’s growth.

He also voiced ExxonMobil’s support for the NUPRC’s “Project 1 Million Barrels” initiative, which aims to increase Nigeria’s crude oil production to 2.4 million barrels per day in the medium term.

The initiative has gotten commitments from other oil firms operating in the country since it was floated last year.

On his part, the NUPRC Chief Executive, Mr Komolafe, welcomed the announcement, reaffirming the NUPRC’s role as a business enabler and pledging regulatory support to facilitate ExxonMobil’s operations.

Mr Komolafe highlighted the importance of sustained collaboration between regulators and investors to meet Nigeria’s production and energy security goals, highlighting compliance with the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation (DCSO) and the need for transparent pricing and accountability in the sector.

“The commission is committed to the implementation of Section 109 of the PIA, which addresses the subject of willing buyer, willing seller, and we urge producers to comply,” he stated.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale and Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil feed into the Okordia–Rumuekpe pipeline in Rivers State has been suspended by Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited.

This action was taken by the energy firm after a leak in the 14-inch pipeline in Ikata under the Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Before now, the oil facility was operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), but Renaissance recently acquired all the oil assets of Shell in a deal finally approved by the federal government.

Business Post reports that Renaissance took over onshore oil and gas assets of Shell in Nigeria for about $2.4 billion.

The recent oil leak was the first major incident the facility was experiencing since the transaction was concluded a few months ago.

Confirming the shutdown in a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Renaissance Africa Energy, Mr Michael Akande, explained that the action was taken to protect the environment.

“We have taken immediate steps to isolate and discontinue production into the pipeline to minimise any potential environmental impact,” Mr Adande stated.

He noted that the relevant regulatory authorities have been informed of the oil leak, assuring that the company will cooperate with the regulators to determine the cause and extent of the spill.

 “Government regulators have been informed, and we are actively coordinating the statutory joint investigation visit, which will include their representatives and those from the local community,” he added.

As anticipation builds for the outcome of the JIV, environmental advocates and local leaders have called for transparency and immediate remediation.

Nigeria’s oil production have been affected over the years by a series of challenges. While efforts to curb them have yielded some results, the country is still far from hitting its 2.06 million barrels per day target to fund its 2025 budget.

Nigeria’s oil production peaked at 2.5 million barrels decades ago and despite ambitious 3-4 million barrels promises by subsequent governments, the highest actualisation in recent times have been 1.8 million barrels per day.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Telecommunications operators in Nigeria added about 3.39 million telephone lines in the first quarter of 2025, pushing active users to 172.7 million, amounting to 79.67 per cent teledensity, according to the latest data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Tuesday.

The industry regulator also said the number of active telephone users moved from 169.3 million as of January to 172.7 million by March ending.

The latest data showed that 4G technology remained most dominant in the country with 48.82 per cent penetration, followed by 2G at 40 per cent and 3G at 8.40 per cent.

The Fifth Generation (5G) offered by MTN, Mafab and Airtel leaped slightly by 0.16 per cent from 2.54 per cent as of the beginning of the year to 2.70 per cent by the end of March.

The 2.70 per cent means that of the 172.7 million active telephone users in the country, 4.66 million are using the 5G network.

Further analysis, however, showed a drop in the number of Internet users in the country. As of January, it was 142, 161,409 but dropped to 142,053, 537. But Broadband penetration rose to 47.73 per cent from 45.61 per cent. Interestingly, there are now 103.5 million broadband users in the country.

In terms of market dominance, MTN maintained the lead with 90 million users and 52. 4 per cent market reach. Airtel is second with 58.3 million customers and 33.8 per cent reach. Globacom came third with 12 per cent penetration and 20.7 million subscribers. 9mobile is fourth with 1.72 per cent nationwide penetration and 2.96 million customers.

This development comes amid rising complaint of worsening service offering by telcos in the past few days.

So far, only MTN has apologised for service glitch experienced by some subscribers yesterday.

Business Post reports that some MTN subscribers across Nigeria experienced a lengthy network downtime on Tuesday disrupting flow of work and communication.

As a result of the glitch, many users on the network were unable to access the internet and many social networking apps, except WhatsApp.

Speaking to this newspaper, a person identified as Albert Adeoye, said, “MTN really affected me yesterday. I heard people complaining but I didn’t know it was that bad.”