Nigeria’s upstream is opening up to local companies.
Africa’s largest Oil producer is urging Nigerian companies to take a bigger share of its Oil and Gas potential. MEA Energy Solutions is building its place at the source.
- Barrels of proven Oil and condensate reserves (NUPRC, 1 January 2026)
- 37.5 billion
- Proven Gas reserves (NUPRC, 1 January 2026)
- 215 tcf
- Crude and condensate output, April 2026
- 1.48 m b/d
- Field development plans approved in 2025, worth $18.2 billion
- 28
Big reserves, and a government that wants them developed.
Nigeria holds ~37.5 billion barrels of proven Oil and condensate reserves and 215 trillion cubic feet of Gas, enough for decades of output at today’s rates. Reforms since 2023 have started to turn that into investment: tax incentives for deepwater developments, clearer roles between the energy agencies, and contracting timelines cut from 36 months to six. Nigeria’s share of Africa’s upstream final investment decisions rose from ~4% to ~40% in two years, and crude output rose by ~400,000 barrels a day between 2023 and 2025, to roughly 1.6 million.
There is room to grow. Output was ~1.48 million barrels a day in April 2026, against a 2026 budget benchmark of 1.84 million and a NUPRC target of 2.5 million. Closing that gap takes more operators, more capital and more rigs at work, and MEA intends to be one of the Nigerian operators that helps close it.
Where Nigeria’s upstream stands, and where it is heading.
Nigeria’s crude output
Million barrels a day, crude and condensate.
- 2023: ~1.2
- 2025: ~1.6
- April 2026: 1.48
- H2 2026, Kpler: 1.75
- 2026 budget: 1.84
- NUPRC target: 2.5
Office of the Special Adviser on Energy review (2023 is 2025 less the 400,000 b/d gain); Shipping Position, June 2026; Kpler; NUPRC
Nigeria’s active rigs
Number of rigs, 2026. Counts differ by source.
- NUPRC count: 31
- African Energy Chamber, March: 17
- African Energy Chamber, April: 12
- OPEC count: 12
Shipping Position, June 2026. The gap is mainly whether standby rigs are counted
How long Nigeria's reserves last
Years of supply at today's output.
- Gas: 85 years
- Oil: 59 years
NUPRC, 1 January 2026
A pipeline of ~$50 billion.
- 28
- Field development plans approved in 2025
- $18.2 billion
- Value of those plans, targeting ~1.4 billion barrels
- 11
- Projects in a pipeline of ~$50 billion beyond 2026
- 40%
- Nigeria’s share of Africa’s upstream investment decisions, up from 4%
Swipe sideways to see the full table.
| Bonga North | Shell (SNEPCo) | Deepwater Oil, final investment decision December 2024, about $5 billion |
| HI non-associated Gas | Shell (SNEPCo) | A further $2 billion committed |
| Ubeta Gas | TotalEnergies and NNPCL | Joint final investment decision June 2024, about $550 million |
| Bonga South West, Owowo, Usan, Erha | International Oil companies and partners | In the pipeline |
Nigeria is pushing its own companies into the sector. MEA is built for it.
Nigerian policy is to put Nigerian companies at the centre of the upstream. The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act requires operators to use local firms, and Nigerian content in the Oil sector has risen from ~5% in 2010 to ~61% in 2026, according to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board. The government wants more Nigerian operators producing more barrels.
MEA Energy Solutions is exactly that kind of company. It is Nigerian, backed by a Group that already runs trading, trucks, stations and Gas in the country, and led by people who have worked in upstream for years. As a local entity, MEA is well placed to benefit from every part of this shift.
Local content:
As a Nigerian company we stand to gain from the preference for local firms in projects, services and partnerships.
Licensing rounds and marginal fields:
NUPRC awarded 37 of 50 blocks in its 2025 round. We took part in the last round and will take part in the next, targeting a marginal field asset.
Asset sales:
Four divestments worth ~$4 billion have put Nigerian operators such as Renaissance, Seplat, Oando and Chappal into onshore and shallow-water assets once held by international Oil companies. We want to follow that path.
Content levy:
A 1% deduction on qualifying upstream contracts funds the Nigerian Content Development Fund, which supports local capability.
An experienced team, and a Group that can carry the barrels to market.
Nigeria has the reserves. What it needs is more committed operators who can bring fields into production and keep them producing. This is where MEA fits.
Together, these let MEA help Nigeria move towards its production target: by developing fields that are idle or under-developed, by employing and training Nigerians, and by keeping more of the value of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas inside Nigeria.
An experienced upstream team
MEA has brought upstream professionals with hands-on field experience into the team. They size up opportunities, plan development and manage projects from evaluation through to production.
Projects brought to production
Marginal and idle fields are the quickest way to add barrels. Our aim is to take such assets from award to output, adding to the production Nigeria needs to reach its targets.
A Group that already operates here
MEA is already in Nigeria with 413 people, our own trucks for camps, rigs and generators, and a trading desk that sources and sells across the region.
A route to market
Oil and Gas that MEA produces can feed the chain we already run: trading, MEA Gas for LNG, CNG and LPG, our fleet and our stations. That is the full chain, from the well to the pump.
Africa, and Nigeria in particular, is where the world turns when the Middle East is disrupted.
About a fifth of the world’s Oil and Gas normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz. When the Iran war disrupted it, crude rose above $100 a barrel and Asian refiners turned to West African grades. Nigerian crude and condensate exports averaged 1.63 million barrels a day in the first quarter of 2026 and above 1.8 million from the second quarter, according to Kpler.
Nigeria has the reserves, the light crude, the Atlantic coast and a growing Oil-service sector, which makes it one of the few places that can add supply at scale. Output is still below potential because of years of under-investment, and that is the opening for committed local operators.
- ~20%
- Of world Oil and Gas passes Hormuz
- $100+
- Crude price after the war began
- 1.8 m b/d+
- Nigerian crude and condensate exports from Q2 2026 (Kpler)
- 1.75 m b/d
- Kpler’s production forecast for the second half of 2026
Our step to the source.
MEA Energy Solutions is the Group’s upstream company, working on Nigerian upstream projects. It has added experienced upstream professionals to the team as MEA takes its first steps beyond downstream, so the Group can be present at every stage of the energy chain: upstream, midstream and downstream inside one Group. MEA Energy Solutions took part in the last licensing round run by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and will take part in the next round, targeting a marginal field asset.
To partner with us on upstream opportunities, email upstream@mea-energy.com.
Partner with MEA Energy Solutions.
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