During an ARISE NEWS interview, he argued that the government should sell off its refining assets and focus its attention on boosting upstream oil production.
“It’s important for the government to hands off refining,” he remarked. “Sell the business and allow the private sector to run refinery operations in Nigeria.” He added that the government’s target of 2 million barrels per day for 2025 is overly optimistic, suggesting that the country will likely fall short, with a more realistic figure being between 1.7 and 1.75 million barrels per day.
Emmanuel stressed that the government, through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), should focus on raising oil production.
“The effort should be on upstream, to focus on raising the output of crude oil so that you can ensure that you comply with sections 109 and the gazette issued by the regulator, NUPRC,” he explained. This, he argued, would ensure that Nigeria’s domestic refineries, which have an installed capacity of 864,500 barrels per day, are supplied with the necessary crude oil before export permits are granted.
