Nigeria’s daily oil production rose by 25,000 barrels per day, climbing from 1.251 million barrels per day (mbpd) in May to 1.276 mbpd in July, according to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its Monthly Oil Market Report for June, which cited direct communication with the Nigerian government.
Despite the government’s efforts to boost production, Nigeria’s oil output could not return to the 1.28 mbpd level recorded in April. The report noted that the country’s oil production fell from 1.28 mbpd in April to 1.25 mbpd in May. Secondary sources indicated a slight decrease from 1.37 mbpd in May to 1.36 mbpd in June.
Earlier this year, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, stated that crude production was approaching 1.7 mbpd in May. During a stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos, Kyari remarked, “As of today’s data, we’re inching to 1.7 mbpd. We won’t celebrate this. On April 17, 2020, our production, without doing anything, without drilling new wells, shot to 2.2 mbpd. The difference was COVID-19. The thieves, the vandals, everybody went to sleep.”
However, figures from OPEC and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission indicated a decline in production.
The PUNCH reported earlier that Nigeria’s daily oil production showed a marginal increase in April, rising from 1.23 mbpd in March to 1.28 mbpd, according to OPEC. This followed a significant drop in production from 1.32 mbpd in February to 1.23 mbpd in March. Production had also fallen from 1.427 mbpd in January to 1.322 mbpd, based on direct sources.
The continuous decline in production has raised concerns among stakeholders about the loss of revenue due to the government’s inability to ramp up production.
In response, the NNPC recently declared a state of emergency on oil production, aiming to increase Nigeria’s crude oil output and grow its reserves. During a keynote address at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition Week in Abuja, Kyari emphasized the urgency of addressing the challenges affecting crude oil production. “We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation,” Kyari declared.
