The Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) has commenced corporate baseline assessments under its N-Zero initiative, marking the next phase of its effort to help Nigerian businesses strengthen climate readiness, develop credible net-zero pathways and position for emerging opportunities in climate-aligned capital.

Launched in January in partnership with DEG Impulse gGmbH and Africa Foresight Group (AFG), N-Zero is designed to support companies in moving from climate ambition to practical action by strengthening their capabilities in climate strategy, emissions measurement, transition planning and access to emerging carbon-market opportunities.

The baseline assessment will establish each participating company’s starting point and provide a structured view of its readiness across key areas, including climate-risk management, emissions measurement and reporting, target-setting, transition planning, technical capabilities and understanding of carbon-market opportunities. The findings will identify priority gaps and inform tailored support for each company.

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Since its launch, N-Zero has engaged more than 50 companies across key sectors of the economy, with 17 formally onboarded as community members and more than 100 companies receiving the baseline survey. Current community members include Access Holdings, Dangote Cement, United Bank for Africa, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, First HoldCo, Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank, Wema Bank, NEM Insurance, Chapel Hill Denham, BUA Cement, Caverton Offshore Support Group, Presco, Oando, HBM Nigeria, Seplat Energy and Skyway Aviation Handling Company, with further companies being engaged as the initiative expands.

On the development, Temi Popoola, GMD/CEO, NGX Group, said: “The transition to a net-zero economy is increasingly becoming a factor in competitiveness, investor confidence and access to capital. Nigerian businesses therefore need to move beyond climate ambition to demonstrate measurable and credible progress. N-Zero is designed to help companies understand where they stand today, identify the gaps that matter most and build practical pathways towards where they need to be. The baseline assessment is a critical step because it gives us the evidence and insight required to tailor support and help participating companies turn climate intent into measurable action and long-term value.”

Following the baseline exercise, companies will undergo needs assessments combining digital diagnostics with expert technical review to determine their readiness levels, identify priority gaps for intervention and define the next steps towards credible climate targets, transition plans and implementation.

N-Zero is structured as a progression from awareness and assessment to target setting, transition planning, validation, implementation and impact tracking. This approach is intended to help companies strengthen internal capabilities while identifying commercial opportunities arising from the transition to a lower-carbon economy.

Under the 2026 roadmap, baseline analysis and initial needs assessments are expected to conclude in September, followed by partner-led sessions and tailored support packages in October and November. The broader programme targets include supporting participating companies to develop science-aligned targets and transition plans, assess emissions-reduction potential, facilitate eligible carbon-offsetting projects and track progress towards the reduction or avoidance of approximately 20,000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent (tCO₂e) emissions.

For NGX Group, the initiative also supports the development of a more climate-ready corporate sector and a capital market better positioned to respond to the risks and opportunities associated with the global transition to a lower-carbon economy.

As N-Zero enters this next phase, its focus is clear: establishing a measurable baseline for corporate climate readiness and helping Nigerian businesses move from commitment to credible, verifiable action.

It has become necessary to strengthen Nigeria’s domestic refining industry with a view to reducing dependence on imported petroleum products and boosting the economy.

The Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) expressed the stance in a position paper titled “Position Paper on the Urgent Need for Strategic Government Intervention to Strengthen Nigeria’s Domestic Refining Industry,” and called on the Federal Government to emulate the recent intervention by United States’ President, Donald Trump in his country’s refining sector.

The association asserted that Nigeria had an even stronger case for government intervention because local refinery operators faced foreign-exchange pressures, high borrowing costs, limited access to long-tenor financing, crude supply challenges, inadequate infrastructure, and high logistics costs.

According to CORAN, “It is sound industrial policy. It is an energy-security policy. And ultimately, it is economic policy”.

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The group expressed concern that Nigeria, despite being one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers, continued to experience difficulties in supplying crude to domestic refineries on commercially workable terms.

It said that during the first quarter of 2026, 61.9 million barrels were allocated to domestic refineries while producers offered 68.7 million barrels, but only 28.5 million barrels were actually delivered.

According to the association, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) identified pricing gaps between producers and domestic refiners as one of the major reasons crude offered did not translate into completed transactions.

It, however, acknowledged improvements in the second quarter, saying NUPRC reported that 53.7 million barrels of crude oil and condensate were supplied to local refineries, representing reported Domestic Crude Supply Obligation performance of 97.4 percent.

“CORAN acknowledges and commends this improvement,” it stated. The association, however, stressed that crude allocation alone was insufficient, noting that refineries required crude delivered under commercially sustainable conditions.

“A refinery does not consume an allocation on paper. It consumes crude delivered under commercially sustainable terms,” CORAN stated. It called for greater consideration of pricing, transportation, evacuation infrastructure, crude quality, financing, payment arrangements and proximity to producing assets when determining crude supply arrangements.

The refinery owners also called for a commercially sensible pricing template for crude supplied to domestic refineries. They acknowledged that international benchmarks such as Brent, WTI and Platts were useful market references but argued that they should not be applied mechanically where refiners were also required to bear separate evacuation and logistics costs.

The association proposed a Domestic Refinery Crude Pricing Framework that would consider internationally recognised crude benchmark values, quality differentials, the actual point of delivery, avoided international freight and insurance costs, domestic evacuation and logistics costs, proximity between producing fields and refineries, as well as reasonable commercial margins for producers.

“The objective is not subsidised crude. The objective is correctly priced crude,” CORAN stated. The refinery owners also expressed concern over the resurgence of petroleum-product imports, urging the government to ensure imports increasingly serve only as a mechanism for addressing supply gaps.

They cited NMDPRA data showing that domestic PMS supply fell from approximately 32.5 million litres per day in June 2026 to 25.8 million litres per day in July, while petrol imports rose from about 18.1 million litres to 19.7 million litres per day.

The association said Nigeria needed adequate petroleum-product stocks and was not advocating policies that could create artificial shortages. However, it warned that a continuous import regime alongside growing domestic refining investment could weaken incentives for existing and prospective refineries.

“A continuous import regime existing alongside substantial domestic refining investment exports Nigerian jobs and refining margins, places additional demand on foreign exchange, weakens investment incentives for existing and prospective refineries, exposes Nigeria to international freight disruptions and geopolitical shocks, and ultimately undermines the country’s aspiration to become a petroleum-product refining and export hub,” it stated.

The group called for import licences to increasingly be calibrated against independently verified domestic production and supply gaps. It added that domestic production capable of meeting equivalent specifications and commercial requirements should receive priority in the Nigerian market.

The association identified access to finance as one of the biggest constraints facing Nigeria’s emerging refining industry. It said refineries were capital-intensive projects requiring substantial investment in processing units, storage facilities, utilities, pipelines, loading facilities, environmental infrastructure, laboratories, fire-protection systems and working capital.

It further urged the government to treat refineries as industrial infrastructure rather than merely downstream petroleum businesses. “Every barrel refined within Nigeria has the potential to retain economic value that would otherwise leave the country,” it stated.

According to the association, domestic refining supports employment, engineering services, fabrication, transportation, petrochemicals, lubricants, plastics, construction materials and other industries while conserving foreign exchange.

It called for a network of large, medium-sized and modular refineries strategically distributed around producing basins and major consumption centres. “The success of one refinery should not mark the completion of Nigeria’s refining ambition. Nigeria requires an ecosystem,” CORAN stated.

To address the challenges, CORAN called on the Federal Government to convene an urgent Presidential Refining Industry Roundtable involving the association, NUPRC, NMDPRA, NNPC Limited, crude producers, financial institutions, infrastructure investors and relevant government ministries.

The association proposed 10 priority actions, including the full institutionalisation of naira-for-crude, development of a domestic crude pricing template, stronger enforcement of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation under Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act and increased use of crude swaps.

It also called for the progressive reduction of petroleum-product imports, creation of a refinery development financing framework, development of shared petroleum-product infrastructure and establishment of strategic petroleum-product reserves.

The group further proposed regulatory and fiscal incentives for refinery expansion, particularly investments in conversion units capable of increasing domestic production of PMS, AGO, aviation fuel and LPG.

“Government intervention should therefore increasingly move away from subsidising consumption and toward enabling production,” it stated. The association added, “Support the refinery. Support the pipeline. Support the storage terminal. Support access to commercially priced Nigerian crude. Support long-term industrial finance.”

The CORAN said Nigeria should ultimately become a refining hub for Africa. “Nigeria should not continue exporting crude, exporting jobs and importing the same petroleum products at considerable economic cost.

“Our crude must increasingly power our refineries. Our refineries must increasingly supply our market. And Nigeria must ultimately become a refining hub for Africa. That should be the destination of petroleum-sector reform,” the association stated.

Indigenous oil and gas company, Ingentia Energies Limited, has appointed a former Shell executive, Engr Victor Agbaroji, as its new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.

It was gathered that Agbaroji assumed office on 1 September 2026, following the completion of the tenure of the company’s interim managing director, Engr Charles Odita, who led the firm between March and August 2026.

The company disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, after a leadership transition ceremony held in Lagos.

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Speaking during the event, Odita said his six-month tenure was productive and expressed confidence in Agbaroji’s ability to accelerate the company’s growth.

“It is my privilege today to hand over the affairs of Ingentia Energies Limited to the incoming managing director, Engr Victor Agbaroji. The company has achieved a lot within the last six months; it is our desire that the new Managing Director will take us to the next level, and I am confident that as an industry veteran, he would hit the ground running and accelerate the company’s growth trajectory,” Odita stated.

In his acceptance remarks, Agbaroji said he would consolidate the gains made under the outgoing management while focusing on safety, talent development, innovation and cost competitiveness.

“Our immediate focus is to consolidate and sustain the gains we have made. Ingentia Energies has set the pace among its peers in growing the company since the acquisition of its licence, and we intend to maintain that momentum, holding in high esteem our company’s greatest assets – people – and taking into recognition the importance of safety, talent development, innovation and cost-competitiveness. IEL will ensure that our people work safely and return home to their loved ones every day. At the same time, we will continue to develop talents, improve efficiency, embrace innovative ways of creating value, and deliver strong returns to our shareholders and stakeholders while affirming our commitment to supporting Nigeria’s energy aspirations, including the national target of increasing crude oil production to 3 million barrels per day,” the new MD said.

According to the statement, Agbaroji brings more than 31 years of experience across the oil and gas value chain to the new position.

He began his professional career as a well-test engineer, gaining experience across several fields before moving to Shell as a reservoir engineer.

During his career at Shell, he held various positions covering operations engineering, corporate petroleum engineering, corporate planning and economics.

The company said he contributed to portfolio optimisation initiatives that supported the emergence of Nigeria’s indigenous marginal field operators.

Agbaroji also served as front-end development manager for major gas projects, including gas supply initiatives for fertiliser production.

At the global level, he was global operations manager for reserves reporting across the Shell Group, overseeing activities spanning Asia, Europe, Australia and North America.

He subsequently moved into Nigeria’s independent oil sector, where he brought international industry practices into indigenous operations.

Before joining Ingentia Energies, Agbaroji led technical advisory, risk management and project delivery support services for emerging energy companies.