With Nigeria focused on efforts to achieve its three million barrels per day production target, recent reforms in the oil and gas sector have unlocked over $24bn in fresh investments, with an additional $10bn currently in the pipeline.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited made the revelation through its Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, on Thursday, in Abuja, at the 2026 Oloibiri Lecture and Energy Forum, where industry leaders converged to chart the future of Nigeria’s upstream sector.

The lecture in its 26th edition was themed, “Beyond the Three Million Barrels Target: Harmonising Digitalisation, Capital and Policy Frameworks for Intelligent Operations and Asset Optimisation.”

Organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, OLEF gathers policymakers, industry leaders, and academics to foster innovation and growth.

Ojulari, who was represented by the Executive Vice President, Upstream, Udobong Ntia, said the resolution of long-standing disputes and previously stalled Final Investment Decisions had significantly boosted investor confidence.

He also stated that the national oil company is ramping up AI pilots and digital mining of decades-old data to slash costs and propel Nigeria’s upstream sector toward a 3 million barrels per day (bpd) production goal.

He said, “Shortening the project cycle is very important. It would help us a lot. The resolution of long-standing issues, including legacy asset disputes and previously stalled FIDs, has unlocked significant investor confidence. These interventions have contributed over $24bn in capital investment from just two projects.”

He added, “I haven’t even added Owowo. There is an extra $10bn in the works, and some others that we are looking at very closely. Bosi has just passed gate one with the operators. Who knew Bosi would be headline news? There is a lot to look forward to.”

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The NNPC Ltd boss said Nigeria now has a potential investment pipeline of about $34bn, combining confirmed and prospective inflows, describing it as a strong signal of renewed global confidence in the country’s oil and gas sector.

He stressed that beyond funding, the country must urgently embrace digital transformation, warning that failure to adopt artificial intelligence could leave operators uncompetitive.

He added, “I’ve been preaching AI for a long time, and it has now become an imperative. If we don’t do it, we’re going to be buried, frankly.”

“It is no longer a nice-to-have. It is an absolute necessity. We have spent a lot of money digitising our data, but if we don’t mine it, we will lose one of the most critical variables in the oil industry — data. We have to, and NNPC has shown leadership, spent a lot of money digitising all our data. Nigeria’s business are so mature and data-rich that if we don’t do anything about it, we will lose in the future one of the things that will be the most important variables you will have in the oil industry, data. We have to learn how to mine it.

“We have to do it as an imperative, otherwise our costs will balloon out of this world. There’s so much we can do, and we need to stay focused on that. The thing before us, beyond the 3 million barrels target, is both timely and instructive.

It recognises that reaching and sustaining 3 million barrels per day is not merely a production aspiration but a commercial, regulatory, and capital slash digital opportunity. What I have in my notes is a digital challenge, but it’s frankly an opportunity if we begin to shift our focus to what really matters. It’s not just the operators that need to begin to move in that direction, it’s also the service providers.”

According to him, Nigeria holds decades of untapped data dating back to the first commercial oil discovery in 1956, much of which remains underutilised.

“We have logs still on paper, seismic data that have not been analysed. There is so much we can do. With technology alone, the three-million-barrel target is within sight in the next three to four years,” he stated.

Ojulari outlined a three-pronged strategy by NNPC to achieve the production target, including protecting existing assets, accelerating near-term production growth, and restructuring the company’s portfolio to attract new investors.

“To support Nigeria’s aspiration to reach and sustain three million barrels per day, NNPC Limited is executing a clearly sequenced, commercially grounded, three-stage strategy. And I want you to listen to this. The first one, we are protecting the base. Very important, we protect the base.

“What has been produced, the assets we have, ensure we keep integrity going. I mean, there are two words I want to try to eliminate. Two words I want to eliminate from our dictionary in the upstream and it’s called aged facilities. Some of us have worked abroad. And when we see facilities, a 10-year asset is looking brand new just by the way they maintain it. So the culture has to change across the board.

“Second, accelerating near-term growth. Through innovative commercial and financing frameworks, including alternative funding structures and optimised risk sharing, we are fast-tracking mature projects capable of delivering incremental barrels in the near-term. So you protect the base in the first case. In the second case, you accelerate near-term growth.

“And the third thing we’re working on is strategic portfolio review, which a number of you may have heard about. We’re reshaping our portfolio to unlock value, to enable new oil from new players. And I put that in parentheses. New oil from New players. Give people the opportunity to come invest in incremental production, and let’s see how that would go.

“We want to deepen indigenous participation and attract capital and capabilities. Capital is going to go towards the path of least resistance. It doesn’t like uncertainty. When you make a law, you stay with it. They want to stay for up to five or seven years. And they can’t wake up one morning, and the law has changed.”

He noted that improved regulatory clarity under the Petroleum Industry Act had helped eliminate funding bottlenecks, particularly the long-standing issue of cash call arrears.

“I don’t think any company can say it has struggled with cash calls in the last one and a half years. The PIA has helped tremendously,” he added.

He further described the three million barrels target as more than a production goal, saying it is a test of Nigeria’s regulatory efficiency, capital discipline, and digital readiness.

“We are grateful for the PIA and the executive orders that the president has signed in the last year. They have really helped advance a number of things. We have seen movements in some deepwater assets that have been in legacy litigation for a while. We have seen advancements in key deepwater assets as well, inching closer to Final investment decisions. And we are glad that we would have them in our portfolio to make up the 3 million barrels that we are looking at, we think it is going to be more, but let’s just stick to 3 million barrels,” he said.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said Nigeria already possesses the technical capacity to transform its energy sector, but must now demonstrate stronger execution.

“It tells me that the intelligence is already there. What remains is the political will, and that has been clearly provided by Mr President through executive orders and reforms,” he said.

He described the Petroleum Industry Act as a turning point for the sector, noting that it had created a more transparent and investor-friendly environment.

“The PIA marks a watershed. It provides clarity, predictability, and a framework that supports innovation and long-term value creation,” Ekpo stated.

The minister emphasised that achieving higher oil production must go hand-in-hand with increased gas utilisation, describing gas as central to Nigeria’s economic transformation.

“Natural gas remains at the heart of our energy future. It is not just a transition fuel, it is a catalyst for industrialisation, power generation, and export diversification,” he said.

He added that digitalisation, capital investment, and sound policy must work together to unlock Nigeria’s full energy potential.

“Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation will reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and enhance safety. But capital will only flow where there is stability and clear returns,” he said.

The Oloibiri Lecture and Energy Forum, organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Nigeria Council, commemorates Nigeria’s first oil discovery in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, in 1956, and serves as a platform for policy and technical dialogue in the energy sector.

Stakeholders at the event agreed that while Nigeria has the resources and policy framework to scale production, execution, regulatory consistency, and technology adoption will determine whether the country can compete effectively in the evolving global energy market.

Earlier in the Chief sponsors’ remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Shuaibu Shehu, insisted that players in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector must integrate digital technologies, efficient capital use, and robust policies to exceed the three million barrels per day production target.

Represented by the general manager, Research and Innovation, PTDF, Olayinka Agboola, Prof. Shehu, highlighted gains from the PIA, which has enhanced investor confidence and regulatory clarity.

Digital tools like automation, AI, IoT, machine learning, and robotics are now transforming operations, slashing costs, and sharpening decision-making across the value chain.

The gas sector also shows promise, with infrastructure drives boosting industrialisation, energy access, and Nigeria’s role in the global energy transition.

He said the PTDF is ramping up human capital efforts through PhD Split-Site Programmes, Centres of Excellence in Kaduna and Port Harcourt, specialised tech trainings, STEM initiatives, and academia-industry partnerships.

“We prioritise sustainable local capacity over international dependence,” Agboola noted, pushing research commercialisation to tackle real challenges.

However, challenges remained, including operational hurdles, regulatory delays, and the need for collaboration among regulators, operators, financiers, and trainers, he noted.