President Bola Tinubu has commended Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer (CEO) of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), for his crucial role in boosting oil production to meet the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota and driving revenue growth in the oil sector.
In a statement on Thursday, Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesperson, said Tinubu commended Komolafe while congratulating him on his birthday.
“President Tinubu joins members of the Komolafe family, friends, and NUPRC staff to celebrate the accomplished engineer and lawyer whose 35 years in the oil sector have been characterised by innovation and excellence,” the statement reads.
The president further acknowledged Komolafe’s inspiring story from “humble beginnings in Igbara Oke, Ifedore Local Government in Ondo State, to the peak of academic and professional exploits”.
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“The NUPRC Chief Executive had served as Executive Director (Commercial) in the Pipelines and Petroleum Marketing Company (PPMC) and Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division at the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” he said.
“As the head of Nigeria’s upstream regulator, Engineer Komolafe has played a pivotal role in ramping up oil production to meet OPEC’s quota, increasing revenue, reducing oil losses to a 16-year low and gas flaring to 7.16% while scaling up the average daily gas production to 7.59 billion standard cubic feet (BSCFD).”
He noted that under Komolafe’s leadership, the NUPRC has introduced 24 transformative regulations, 19 of which have been officially gazetted to implement key provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
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“These high-impact reforms, including the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Measurement Regulations and the Advanced Cargo Declaration Regulation, have helped address long-standing gaps in the monitoring and accountability of upstream activities,” Tinubu said.
He added that it has integrated computerised, transparent, and competitive licensing rounds into its regulatory framework, as endorsed by the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
As Engineer Komolafe turns 62, Tinubu said he looks forward to more accomplishments in the oil sector and “prays that God will grant him more strength, wisdom, and fulfilment as he continues his dedicated service to Nigeria”.
In January, the country for the first time met the global oil cartel’s production quota of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) since it was set — for the 2024 period — at OPEC’s ministerial meeting on November 30, 2023.
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However, in August, Nigeria’s oil production output dropped to 1.43 million bpd.
