The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has disclosed plans to raise the active oil rigs in Nigeria’s petroleum sector from the current 36 to 50 by the end of 2025.
Speaking at the ongoing 2025 Africa Energies Summit (AES) in London, United Kingdom, the Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, noted that from eight oil rigs in 2021, President Bola Tinubu’s recent reforms have significantly removed the bottlenecks and enhanced investment in the country’s oil sector.
The number of active oil rigs is a key indicator of the level of activity in the oil and gas sector, reflecting how much exploration and production work is currently underway.
Each active rig represents an investment by an oil company to either discover new oil reserves or extract oil from known fields.
Komolafe, who spoke on the theme: “Igniting Nigeria and Africa’s Energy Future: Evolving Landscapes, Challenges, and Transformative Opportunities”, told the global audience at the event that Nigeria is now well positioned to tap into the projected $600 billion annual upstream investment required to grow Africa’s oil sector, estimated to hit about $3 trillion by 2030.
