The Minister of State for Petroleum Sources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has known as on Engineering, Procurement, and Building (EPC) firms to reinvest in Nigeria’s oil and fuel sector, emphasising the numerous incentives obtainable for deepwater operators underneath the Petroleum Trade Act (PIA).
Talking on the EPC Deepwater Funding Roundtable organised by the Oil Producers Commerce Part (OPTS), Lokpobiri confused that Nigeria has reworked its oil funding panorama with daring reforms, investor-friendly insurance policies, and enhanced fiscal advantages.
Lokpobiri highlighted key incentives underneath the PIA, together with decreased royalty charges for deep offshore manufacturing, which vary from 5 per cent to 7.5 per cent relying on the water depth. He additional famous that value restoration limits have been eliminated, permitting firms to get well their improvement prices earlier than revenue sharing begins totally.
It is a important enhancement designed to enhance mission viability and appeal to main investments.
“Once we say Nigeria is open for enterprise, we imply it,” Lokpobiri declared. These incentives are a part of complete reforms that embrace streamlined fiscal phrases, regulatory readability, and mission safety partnerships with the Nigerian Navy and different safety businesses. These measures handle earlier challenges equivalent to contracting inefficiencies and budgetary uncertainty that precipitated many EPC corporations to scale down or exit.”
The minister strongly appealed to Worldwide Oil Firms (IOCs) and deepwater operators to proceed with Last Funding Selections (FIDs), emphasising that the return of EPC corporations will depend on the circulation of tasks, which in flip will depend on continued funding by operators. “The EPCs won’t return if there aren’t any tasks, and there may be no tasks if operators are usually not investing,” he said.
Lokpobiri assured that the incentives lengthen not solely to the IOCs but in addition to the EPC contractors who execute these complicated deepwater tasks. “These large EPC firms, who as soon as left, are precisely the form of gamers who can thrive in deepwater. We are going to be certain that the advantages underneath the PIA are prolonged to EPCs as a result of, with out them, these tasks can’t be delivered,” he affirmed.
He additionally inspired EPC corporations to view Nigeria’s deepwater basin as a large and enticing area of alternative, highlighting the federal government’s deliberate efforts to take away limitations, incentivise efficiency, and construct lasting partnerships. The roundtable concluded with a robust dedication between the federal government, EPC contractors, and deepwater operators to reinvigorate the mission pipeline, improve native content material, and guarantee mutual prosperity for all stakeholders.
Lokpobiri’s message marks a decisive transfer to reposition Nigeria as a aggressive, safe, and rewarding vacation spot for deepwater oil investments, with incentives designed to foster development and sustainability within the sector. This new panorama underneath the PIA guarantees to unlock Nigeria’s deepwater potential with decreased royalties and enhanced value restoration as central pillars.
