Chief Executive, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, says she plans to increase production and revenue expansion through the recovery of shut-in volumes with economic value, arresting decline, reducing losses, and accelerating time-to-first oil—without increasing burdens or transaction cost.

This, she said, had already begun by “turning on the light” in a long shut-in asset.

Unveiling her agenda during a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, she said the transformative vision would rest on three pillars: production optimization and revenue expansion; regulatory predictability and speed; and safe, governed and sustainable operations.

According to her, the vision aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and his plan to hit a production target of 2mmbopd by 2027 and 3mmbopd by 2030.

The meeting was well attended by members of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), emerging players and other major stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

According to Eyesan’s plan, regulatory predictability and speed can be achieved by running regulation like a service, enforcing rules transparently and making quick time-bound decisions.

The NUPRC boss plans to strengthen governance, process safety, host community outcomes, and encourage decarbonisation through safe, governed and sustainable operations.

“Going forward, the commission will be measured on the following key success metrics – Faster, predictable regulatory approvals, higher, more secure and sustainable production, credible licensing and disciplined acreage performance, world-class HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) and process safety outcomes, trusted measurement, transparency, governance and data integrity,” she said.

She promised that under her leadership, the NUPRC will enhance regulatory efficiency and predictability by publishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for all major approvals.

“The timeline to production will be reduced through proactive discussions regarding all necessary approvals, implementation of stage-gate processes, and mutual agreement on timelines with the commission,” she stated.

“Stakeholders are encouraged to submit their projects for consideration. For matured opportunities, please submit your request latest end of Q1, 2026. This would provide a simplified and holistic framework that creates obligations for both operators and the Commission.”

“The commission will launch a digital workflow for permitting, reporting and data submissions,” she stated.

“NUPRC will work with the industry to identify capacity gaps and develop tiered intervention in the most critical areas with immediate impact on regulatory efficiency, while we harmonise our own internal processes to eliminate conflicting regulatory actions and reduce friction.”

She said that the NUPRC’s internal transformation programme, through a project Management office, is in flight adding: “I will provide more details on this in the coming days.”

The NUPRC boss also convened a “CCE–Operators Leadership Forum for monthly engagement”.

The participants will include all operators (including NNPC), OPTS, IPPG, and emerging players.

The meeting, she said, will be focused on approval timelines, production restoration, infrastructure integrity, and gas monetisation and development.

Eyesan also stressed the need to improve hydrocarbon accounting and measurement by tracking every barrel produced and promptly addressing discrepancies or losses.

On host community, the NUPRC encouraged all operators to liaise with the commission “as we plan first engagement with host community leaders to reaffirm commitment to HCDT (Host Community Development Trust) implementation.

She also said one of her key goals is to ensure 100 per cent to the Petroleum Industry Act within 12 months. This, she said, will be monitored with a dedicated team situated in her office.

“The commission going forward will issue quarterly progress reports. Let’s therefore bring all high-impact shut-in fields for approval.

“On the Commission’s part, a 90-day programme to fast-track approvals for near-ready FDPs, well interventions, rig mobilisation and other quick-win opportunities have commenced,” the CCE stated.

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