metro<\/a> <\/p>\nTHE Federal Government has disclosed that local production of petrol has moved from effectively zero in 2023 to about 48 million litres per day.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser to the President on Oil and Gas disclosed this at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce Energy Day 2026.<\/p>\n
A text of her presentation at the event, held recently in Lagos, was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the topic, \u201cEnergy in Nigeria: From Potential to Reality\u201d
Verheijen noted that, for the first time in a generation, the majority of the petrol Nigerians consume is now refined at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where energy reform meets the strength of the Naira.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor decades, every cargo of imported petrol was a standing demand for scarce dollars, a structural drain that weakened our currency.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs local refining has risen, that drain has eased: petrol imports fell from about N2.3 trillion in the first quarter of 2025 to under N90 billion a year later.<\/p>\n
\u201cFewer dollars spent on fuel means less pressure on the Naira. Energy security and currency stability are not separate goals. They are the same goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On crude oil and condensate production the Special Adviser said the country had restored investors confidence.<\/p>\n
According to her, crude oil and condensate production averaged 1.64 million barrels per day in 2025.<\/p>\n
She said the production was up by roughly 400,000 barrels a day since 2023, and the highest onshore level in two decades.<\/p>\n
Verheijen also disclosed that over
four billion dollars in international oil company divestments had been concluded.<\/p>\n
She said the divestment had helped to deepen indigenous participation in onshore, while the majors re-focussed on deep-water and integrated gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cPipeline uptime is now consistently high, and illegal refining sharply reduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery additional barrel matters \u2014 for revenue, for jobs, and for the strength of the federation,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
Reflecting on what the administration met on ground in 2023, Verheijen said that the sector was under severe strain.<\/p>\n
She recalled that subsidies had become fiscally unsustainable while foreign-exchange distortions had weakened investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cProduction was below potential; Power-sector debt was strangling the gas-to-power chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe country had resources, but the system was not converting them into national value.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo our first task was to stop the bleeding and rebuild the foundations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In addressing the challenges, Verheijen recalled that the President Tinubu\u2019s administration restored fiscal credibility by removing the fuel subsidy and reforming the exchange rate.<\/p>\n
According to her, the decisions were hard, but necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe results are visible. Total federation revenue rose to about N21 trillion in 2024, up from roughly N12 trillion in 2023 \u2013 nearly doubling in a single year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She noted that inspite of the deregulation, government has prevented the chronic nationwide petrol queues that once defined scarcity.<\/p>\n
(NAN)<\/p>\n
W.U<\/p>\n
June 23, 2026<\/p>\n
Tags: Mrs. Olu Verheijen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\tPost navigation<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"metro THE Federal Government has disclosed that local production of petrol has moved from effectively zero in 2023…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-493749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1138.png\")
<\/p>\n