The Federal Government has called on leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms to return to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, assuring that the obstacles which forced their exit have been dismantled through sweeping reforms and fresh incentives.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, made the appeal in London during the EPC Deepwater Investment Roundtable organised by the Oil Producers Trade Section. According to a statement by his media aide, Nneamaka Okafor, the minister declared that Nigeria’s oil sector has been transformed and is now “open for business.”
Lokpobiri highlighted that inefficiencies in contracting, fiscal instability, security concerns, and regulatory uncertainty once drove EPC companies away, but said the Petroleum Industry Act has reset the landscape with clearer fiscal terms, streamlined regulations, and stronger guarantees for project security in partnership with security agencies.
“When we say Nigeria is open for business, it is not rhetoric but evidence of policies already in place. The reforms are real, and the results are visible,” he stressed, adding that EPC firms must seize the opportunity to engage in new projects being lined up by international oil companies.
He explained that government had rolled out incentives designed to spur deepwater investment, including lower offshore royalty rates, removal of cost recovery limits, tax credits for frontier exploration, and investor protection measures. These, he assured, apply not only to operators but also to EPC contractors critical to project delivery.
“The same way incentives have been fine-tuned for IOCs, we are ensuring EPC companies also benefit, because without them, deepwater projects cannot be realised,” Lokpobiri said.
The roundtable closed with a commitment to revive stalled projects, expand local content, and build enduring partnerships between government, EPC contractors, and operators. The minister urged global players to re-examine Nigeria through the lens of reforms rather than past difficulties, describing the country’s deepwater basin as “a massive space of opportunity.”
In a further boost, U.S.-based Vaalco Energy announced its intention to re-enter the Nigerian market through the acquisition of Svenska’s Production Sharing Contract stake in Oil Mining Lease 145, underscoring renewed investor confidence in the sector.
