The Country Chair and Managing Director, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Matthieu Bouyer has said Nigeria’s oil and gas industry must move beyond potential and convert ongoing reforms into concrete projects, production growth and long-term value for the country.
Speaking at the 5th PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit (PEALS) 2026, held in Abuja, Bouyer said Nigeria had the resources, talent, industrial history, entrepreneurship and energy demand required to remain a major energy country, but warned that the real test was execution.
Delivering a keynote address titled “Removing Barriers to Business Growth in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry: TotalEnergies as a Case Study of E&P Expansion Amid Bureaucratic Bottlenecks and Regulatory Uncertainties,” Bouyer said Nigeria’s oil and gas industry must focus on turning its potential into concrete projects, higher production and real value.
He added that gas resources should be converted into power, LNG, industrial growth and exports, while reforms must translate into stronger investor confidence.
“Nigeria does not lack potential,” Bouyer told the gathering of top government officials, regulators, operators, labour leaders and industry executives. “The real challenge is conversion.”
According to him, barriers that slow down projects do not affect companies alone, but also national revenue, jobs, local content, host communities, workers and the confidence of future investors.
The TotalEnergies chief executive said stability remained the first condition for growth in the sector. He noted that government creates stability through clear policy and effective regulation; regulators through predictable implementation; operators through disciplined investment and safe operations; labour through constructive engagement and industrial harmony; and communities through trust and shared responsibility.
He said industrial harmony as more than a labour matter, calling it “a business enabler” that supports safety, production, investment and people development. “If Nigeria wants long-term jobs,” he said, “it must create the conditions for long-term projects, a competitive industry and a stable environment in which investors, workers and communities can see a future.”