Nigeria's minister of state for oil Timipre Sylva has resigned, according to a ministry source. The resignation has not yet been made public.
Sylva's responsibilities are likely to be covered by the ministry's permanent secretary Gabriel Aduda until a permanent replacement is chosen, the source said.
Sylva has resigned after just over three and a half years in the job. He was appointed in August 2019 at a time when Nigeria's oil sector was facing formidable challenges, among them faltering earnings and upstream spending, chronic refining shortages, and passing a long-delayed petroleum bill.
A former governor of oil producing Bayelsa state in the Niger delta, Sylva helped drive through the petroleum bill's passage into law in 2021, and oversaw its implementation, which has in turn helped restore interest in Nigeria's upstream from international oil firms.
But he also oversaw a fall in the country's oil production to its lowest levels for decades, owing to a combination of crude theft and vandalism. In August, Nigerian output fell to 1.1mn b/d, surrendering its crown as west Africa's largest producer to Angola. Production has since recovered, and was 1.4mn b/d in February.
