Nigeria’s oil industry attracts only $5M in Q2 2024

Nigeria’s oil and gas industry continues to struggle to attract foreign investment, with only $5 million recorded in the second quarter of 2024, following no inflows in the first quarter.

This was revealed in a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which showed that Nigeria’s oil industry accounted for just 0.19% of the $2.6 billion in capital importation between April and June. In contrast, the banking sector led with $1.12 billion, making up 43.15% of the total.

Foreign capital investment in Nigeria’s petroleum sector has been in steady decline, falling from $720 million in 2016 to $3.64 million in 2023.

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Experts suggest that the drop is due to lingering investor uncertainty despite the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which was intended to improve the business climate.

Capital importation into the oil sector has seen fluctuations over the years, peaking at $720 million in 2016 and gradually dropping to $133.51 million in 2018, $53.51 million in 2020, and just $6.37 million in 2022. In 2023, total investments in the sector amounted to a mere $3.64 million.

The NBS data highlights a broader trend of declining foreign investment in Nigeria’s oil sector, once a dominant force in Africa’s largest oil-producing country.

Despite efforts to attract investors, the sector’s share of total capital importation remains alarmingly low.