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Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe
The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, has disclosed that Nigeria’s rig count will hit 50 in March.
Komolafe said active rigs are currently 38, from 32 in the previous weeks.
According to him, increasing the number of active rigs is essential to boost oil production and achieve the two million barrels per day target.
Komolafe stated this on Thursday at the Heirs Energies’ Nigeria Petroleum Industry Leadership Discourse in Abuja.
The NUPRC boss disclosed that the commission is doing a lot to ensure the country achieves its target.
He maintained that the regulator was bringing actors like funders, rig owners, and others together for fruitful collaborations.
“Part of what we’ve done is to facilitate a situation whereby the funders have been brought in; we set up a platform where all the key actors – the funders, the rig owners, and all of them, could interact together in that initiative.
“As of now, we have a rig count of about 38 rigs. And I want to say that from the way we are driving the project, we believe that between now and the end of March, we should be achieving 50 rigs, that is our projection.
“So we are closely monitoring, and those are the active rigs in the country. So, by the time we achieve that, we believe that we’ll be moving closer to achieving our objectives in attaining the 2.5 million barrel target,” Komolafe maintained.
As part of its regulatory reforms, Komolafe said the commission is driving the industry effectively by ensuring the digitisation and automation of the licensing and approval processes.
“That speeding up licensing and approval processes itself will translate automatically to efficiency in operations by reducing delays. Reducing delays will reduce the cost of operations. So, we are doing that, and we’re getting positive feedback from the industry.
“Approval processes have not only been streamlined, but equally automated as part of the processes that the commission is putting in place to ensure that the industry achieves the targeted 2.5 million barrels per day,” he noted.
