Upstream Investments & Policy Reforms: Nigeria emerged as Africa’s top destination for upstream oil & gas investment in 2024 after rolling out investor-friendly policies. The government introduced tax incentives to spur up to $10 billion in natural gas projects (e.g. reducing taxes and extending capital allowances for deepwater gas), alongside directives to cut contracting costs and enforce local contentenergychamber.orgenergychamber.org. These moves helped attract three of the four major Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) in Africa that year – including Shell’s Bonga North oil project and gas developments by Shell (Iseni) and TotalEnergies (Ubeta) – totaling about $13.5 billionenergychamber.org. Nigeria also launched a 2024 licensing round offering 19 new oil blocks, signaling commitment to expand explorationenergychamber.org.
Refining Renaissance – Dangote comes online: The 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Oil Refinery began operations in 2024, marking a turning point for Nigeria’s downstream sector. Domestic refining capacity jumped from processing just ~2% of Nigeria’s crude in 2023 to about 13% in 2024calmwatershipping.co. By late 2024 the refinery even exported its first batch of gasoline (PMS) to Cameroon, inaugurating Nigeria’s role as a regional exporter of refined fuelscalmwatershipping.co. This reduces Nigeria’s longtime reliance on imported petroleum products and is expected to improve fuel availability and forex savings domestically, while supplying West African markets with Euro-grade fuels.
Asset Divestments and Local Takeovers: A wave of mergers and acquisitions is reshaping Nigeria’s oil landscape, with international oil companies divesting and indigenous players gaining ground. In 2024, Oando Plc acquired 100% of Italian giant ENI/Agip’s Nigerian onshore assets (NAOC) for $783 million, doubling Oando’s stake in several Niger Delta licensesolaniwunajayi.net. Likewise, Seplat Energy finalized a long-delayed $1.28 billion deal to acquire ExxonMobil’s shallow-water JV (Mobil Producing Nigeria) – a transaction approved in late 2024 after government interventionolaniwunajayi.net. Other deals saw local firms like Chappal and Aradel scoop up assets from Shell and TotalEnergiesolaniwunajayi.netolaniwunajayi.net. These transactions boost local ownership of reserves and production, aligning with Nigeria’s local content drive, though stakeholders are closely watching how new operators tackle challenges like funding, security, and environmental performance.
Gas Development & Regional Exports: Gas remains a strategic focus amid the energy transition. Nigeria is leveraging its huge gas reserves with projects like NLNG Train 7 (expanding LNG export capacity) and the planned trans-Saharan pipelines. Notably, the Nigeria–Morocco Gas Pipeline (5,600 km across 13 countries) hit key milestones by 2024/25: completing engineering studies, securing an ECOWAS intergovernmental agreement, and signing on all transit countries (most recently Togo in mid-2025)vanguardngr.comvanguardngr.com. Once built, this $25 billion pipeline could transport 30 billion m³ of gas per year from Nigeria to West Africa and Europe, bolstering Nigeria’s long-term export revenue and regional energy supply. Domestically, the government’s “Decade of Gas” initiative and new gas commercialization regulations (under the 2021 Petroleum Industry Act) are pushing investment in gas processing, LNG, and gas-fed power projects – aiming to curb routine flaring by 2030 and cut methane leaks in line with Nigeria’s 2060 net-zero pledgeclimateactiontracker.org. Overall, stakeholders are witnessing Nigeria pivot toward gas as a cleaner growth engine and export commodity, even as oil remains a key revenue driver.