Energy expert and Chief Executive Officer of Brevity Anderson, James Hemen Shindi, has petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, warning that Nigeria’s hard-won crude production rebound could collapse unless the administration quickly locks its executive orders into permanent national law.
In an open letter addressed to the President on October 6, 2026, Shindi observed that while emergency presidential orders have halted years of regulatory paralysis and brought crude output to 1.735 million barrels per day, the gains will remain fragile without formal legislative backing.
Data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission showed that national output climbed for a fourth straight month in June 2026.
Crude oil production alone hit 1.56 million barrels per day, outperforming Nigeria’s OPEC quota at 104 percent and marking the highest extraction level recorded since April 2020.
Shindi credited the turnaround to improved pipeline security, coordinated regulatory oversight, and targeted fiscal sweeteners introduced under the 2024 executive orders and the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentives Order 2026.
These fiscal measures have unlocked vital capital, including the US$1 billion Usan Infill project expected to pump 40,000 barrels daily, alongside ongoing work on Ubeta, Bonga North, and HI Gas.
Significantly, ExxonMobil has resumed active drilling in Nigerian waters after staying away for a decade.
Shindi also praised the settlement of the long-running OPL 245 dispute, which cleared the path for the Zabazaba-Etan deepwater project, as well as the enforcement of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation to keep local refineries running.
On natural gas, he pointed to the completed River Niger crossing on the OB3 pipeline, a breakthrough that unlocks over 500 million standard cubic feet of gas daily from eastern fields to industrial clusters in the west and north.
He underscored the February 13, 2026 Executive Order mandating that royalties, profit oil, and gas revenues go straight into the Federation Account, insisting that transparent bookkeeping at NNPC Limited remains non-negotiable.
Shindi warned, however, that external shocks are brewing abroad.
Escalating conflict around the Strait of Hormuz, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and a planned ban on diesel exports by the United States threaten to rattle global energy markets and push local fuel costs beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.
He urged the Federal Government to insulate Nigeria from these international tremors by publishing regular sector scorecards, strictly monitoring local content delivery, finalizing operational models for public refineries, and pushing the National Assembly to codify the reforms into permanent statutes.
