Oil investment in Nigeria now at record low – Report

Oil and gas investment in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer, has fallen to a record low, even as the country’s production outlook has not appeared as uncertain as it does now, Renaissance Capital Limited said on Wednesday.

The Russia-based investment bank said in a new report that the under-investment and chronic infrastructure issues plaguing the country’s oil sector manifested in a multi-decade production low of less than 1.5 million barrels of oil per day in December 2021.

It said the recovery in January this year offered some optimism, but the outlook remained uncertain.

The report said, “Shell’s and Exxon’s announced divestment plans in Nigeria if completed, would transfer most of Nigeria’s oil production from the onshore and shallow water terrains ( about 65 per cent of total production in 2021) to indigenous control – at a time when global oil and gas financing is drying up.

– Punch