Buoyed with optimism, the Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has said Nigeria can virtuaily attain the 2m barrels per day (bpd) oil production level set for the 2025 budget after scaling the recent 1.8m bpd milestone.

In a statement signed by its Chairman, Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, the group described the recent increase in daily oil production numbers as a major fulfilment of Tinubu's campaign promise. 

"When President Bola Tinubu assumed office, he was emphatic about his readiness to raise Nigeria's oil production, a promise he has fulfilled. 

"We recall that in his 80-page campaign document, the President had said he would increase national crude production to 2.6m barrels per day (bpd) by 2027, from the 1m bpd produced in October 2022 when he first made public the campaign promise. 

"According to the policy document, he was emphatic that he would partly achieve the goal by “deterring crude oil theft and preventing vandalism of our pipelines, crude infrastructure and assets'.

"So it did not come to us as a surprise when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced recently that the country's daily crude production, including condensate, now stood at 1.8 million barrels per day from 1.54m bpd in September 2024.

"The 16.56 per cent increase according to the NNPCL was achieved through the collaborative efforts of stakeholders across the production value chain, which also included securing the network of pipelines. This is clearly in line with what President Tinubu vowed to prioritize on assuming office as part of steps to ramp up crude oil output. 

"He specifically pledged, in his policy document, 'to protect the nation’s pipelines by deploying technological interventions such as stationary aerial monitoring platforms and drones to curbing production disruptions'

"It is against this backdrop that we commend the board and management of NNPCL for driving the President mandate through proper deployment of the Production War Room team which was inaugurated in June 2024 when production was at 1.43m bpd.

"This move culminated in ramping up and sustaining production recovery to 1.7 mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808 mbpd in November," the group said.

TMSG added that aside from ensuring a reduction in oil theft, President Tinubu is also increasing profitable investment in the industry.

It said: "We know for a fact that the President's campaign document also made reference to 'more investment on frontier oil and gas exploration, particularly in as yet untapped parts of the country within the Lake Chad basin'.

"This is being vigorously pursued with the slew of incentives introduced by the Tinubu administration to attract more investment to the oil and gas sector through three Executive Orders which are specifically targeted at unlocking fresh investments by streamlining contracting process and procedures.

"We dare say that the Tinubu reforms in the industry birthed the $550m investment by TotalEnergies in the Ubeta upstream gas project, which will deliver 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day when operational.

"There are also others, including ExxonMobil, which has already reaffirmed its readiness to put in place a $10bn investment in offshore oil operations in the country.

"And there is the resolution of the ExxonMobil-Seplat divestment deal by by the Tinubu administration which is now expected to add 400,000 barrels a day to the country's crude output."

TMSG urged Nigerians to see the new crude production output as a sign of better things to come in the President Tinubu years.