The Nigerian government, on Thursday, announced that it would remove all restrictions on oil exploration and production to reverse the trend of foreign oil companies divesting their assets in the country.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri met with the leadership of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group and the Oil Producers Trade Section at his office in Abuja.
The two groups visited Lokpobiri as part of his ongoing engagements with agencies, commissions, and stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, according to a statement from his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Nneamaka Okafor.
In the statement, the minister assured his guests “of the Federal Government’s commitment to removing all bottlenecks hindering the ease of exploration and production in the Nigeria energy sector.”
The IPPG and OPTS delegations consisted of senior executives from both groups, as well as representatives from oil companies, and were led by Abdulrazaq Isa, President/Group CEO of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, and Gwueke Ajaifia, Executive Director of OPTS.