
By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, has said that there has been a 74 percent decline in capital expenditure (Capex) within the Nigerian upstream petroleum industry.
Komolafe, who disclosed the information at an interview in Abuja, said the NUPRC will look deeper into the reason for the loss of about 74 percent of investments within 8 years.
He said the commission realized the negative impact of the underinvestment in national oil production from the analysis of a report released by McKinsey.
The NUPRC Boss also expressed concerns that attention was not being paid to the scenario where investments in the industry dropped from $27 billion in 2014 to $6 billion in 2022.
Komolafe said that NUPRC would try to find out why Nigeria lost such a huge amount of investments while its counterparts like Ghana, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Angola in the Organizations of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were recording positive investments.He added that the commission would engage the Federal Government with its findings, stating that solving the cause of the drop in investments would bring about a positive change for the nation.