Nigeria Implements 70:30 Profit Oil Split for New Projects

On August 6, 2026, President Bola Tinubu signed the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentives (Tax Remission) Order, which introduces a 70:30 profit oil split favoring contractors for new deep offshore oil and gas projects. This provision allows qualifying developments to restart the profit-oil sharing scale, even if existing production in the same area has a higher government share.

The Profit Oil Reset is intended to make new developments more commercially attractive by isolating them from the profit-sharing levels of older productions. The order specifies that eligible projects must be greenfield crude oil or non-associated gas projects for which a Final Investment Decision (FID) had not been made prior to the order's commencement.

The FID must occur on or before December 31, 2029, with possible extensions for force majeure. Additionally, the government introduced a Standard Production Tax Credit of up to $3 per barrel for qualifying projects with reserves up to 400 million barrels.