An Indonesian oil company, Pertamina, is targeting investment opportunities in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector ahead of the country’s 2026 licensing round.
The company’s interest was disclosed during a meeting involving the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Indonesian officials and Pertamina’s Vice President for Upstream Business Development, Toriq Abdat.
Pertamina said it is looking beyond Indonesia for new oil and gas opportunities as part of efforts to expand its international operations and increase its access to energy resources.
Abdat said the company is interested in producing assets, projects that are close to production and developments awaiting final investment decisions.
He added that Pertamina would consider opportunities through competitive bidding as well as direct agreements with governments.
“In Indonesia we are producing only around 600,000 barrels. We are working on exploration towards deepwater but we found more gas than oil. That is why we go outside Indonesia, Malaysia, then the Middle East, Iraq and Nigeria,” Abdat said.
He said the company was interested in working with Nigeria to increase crude oil production while also securing additional energy supplies for Indonesia.
Nigeria is targeting a significant increase in crude oil production as the government seeks to attract more investment into the upstream sector.
NUPRC Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the 2026 licensing round would form part of the commission’s strategy to attract fresh investment and increase oil production.
“We have very aggressive targets, 3 million barrels per day by 2030, and today we are at 1.6, 1.7. We are committed to the objective and the licensing round is one of the strategies we are utilising,” Eyesan said.
The NUPRC has been working to make Nigeria’s upstream sector more attractive to investors through changes to fiscal terms and efforts to reduce barriers to entry.
The commission said Nigeria’s licensing rounds have become a regular feature of the upstream sector under the Petroleum Industry Act.
Beyond oil and gas, discussions between Nigeria and Indonesia are also expected to cover areas such as fertiliser production, with both countries seeking to strengthen cooperation in energy and food security.
The NUPRC said discussions with the Indonesian delegation would continue as Pertamina assesses investment opportunities in Nigeria.
