A Shell official said Nigeria's deep-water fields are home to some of the world's most promising associated and non-associated gas reserves, with vast untapped potential.
The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) says Nigeria's target of over 2.4 million barrels per day can be met if ongoing reforms are sustained.
The Managing Director of SNEPCo, Ronald Adams, disclosed this in a statement issued by Gladys Afam-Anadu, the spokesperson of the energy firm, on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Mr Adams spoke at the 9th Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, which began in Lagos on Tuesday.
SNEPCo noted that the increased output would improve the country's earnings and subsequently provide resources to fund development projects if Nigeria continued with sectoral policies to encourage investments and boost output.
"Deep water is a compelling consideration for Nigeria, if the country must meet its oil production targets and implement ambitious development programmes," Mr Adams said.
According to him, Nigeria's deep-water fields are home to some of the world's most promising associated and non-associated gas reserves, with vast untapped potential.
"The fields can play a vital role in powering Nigeria's future, supporting cleaner energy and contributing to global emissions reduction.
"This will require a favourable investment climate to attract capital and innovation to develop these gas resources responsibly and sustainably, ensuring long-term benefits for the country in meeting its energy and global sustainability goals," he said.
'Welcomed reforms'
Mr Adams welcomed the government's reforms to attract investments, especially the signing of three executive orders in February 2024 on tax incentives, local content compliance requirements, and petroleum sector contracting costs and timelines reduction.
Mr Adams said tax credits were also announced for new deep-water oil and gas investments.
He noted that the reforms should be part of a renewed strategy to attract investments "through fiscal and regulatory policies that are fit-for-purpose, forward-looking, and competitive."
The SNEPCo boss said that for Nigeria to consistently reap the benefits from deep-water operations, regulatory bottlenecks must be addressed through streamlined and faster approval processes and consistent and fair policy enforcement.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Mr Adams spoke on Shell's vision for unlocking Nigeria's deep-water potential, assuring that the company would continue to leverage its expertise since it pioneered production at the Bonga field in 2005.
These production, he said, achieved one billion barrels export milestone in 2023.
He said further developments included the Final Investment Decision on the $5 billion Bonga North deep-water project announced in 2025.
He said SNEPCo's deep-water achievements had resulted in the payment of taxes and royalties to the government, the development of indigenous businesses through contract awards and the implementation of social investments across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones.
"Shell has powered progress in Nigeria and our vision is to build on our support and help the country to achieve energy security and economic development.
"We will do this by continuing to take innovative approaches to deep-water development, reducing costs and ensuring better and quicker returns for all stakeholders." Mr Adams said.
