Plans for an overhaul of Nigeria’s oil industry took a step forward on Monday when energy advisers submitted proposals to President Umaru Yar’Adua to restructure the state-owned oil company in an effort to reverse declining production.

A combination of attacks by militants and a lack of investment in new projects has undermined supply from Africa’s biggest crude exporter – which dipped to 1.5m barrels a day in June, its lowest level in 20 years – spurring the rally that recently took oil prices to record highs.