NIGERIA’s crude oil production dropped to 1.324 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, months after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had declared a state of emergency on oil theft to ramp up average daily production.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) disclosed this in its Monthly Oil Market Report, released on Monday, October 14.
According to the report, the 1.324 million bpd production figure is based on direct communication with the Nigerian authorities for the review month.
It shows that Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped by 28,000 bpd from 1.352 million bpd reported in August.
In July, Nigeria’s crude oil production stood at 1.307 million bpd, putting the country’s average crude oil production in the third quarter at 1.328 million bpd.
The average third-quarter figure is, however, higher than the 1.327 million bpd reported in the first quarter and 1.270 million bpd recorded in the second quarter of the year.
“Ongoing progress on operational ramp-up efforts at the Dangote Refinery and rising product output levels from Nigeria are likely suppressing traditional European product exports to Nigeria,” OPEC said in the report.
At the opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja, on Tuesday, July 2, the NNPCL boss, Mele Kyari, declared a state of emergency of 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 said at the time.
Months after the declaration, crude oil production has failed to improve even as industry experts are worried over Nigeria’s inability to meet its OPEC quota of 1.5 million bpd.
In June, The ICIR analysed that the Nigerian government lost over N16 billion in revenue daily from crude oil production amounting to N1.62 trillion between January and May this year as oil production volume dropped rapidly.
The low crude oil production since the beginning of the year casts doubt on the N15 trillion projected revenue the government anticipates to fund its 2024 budget with over 70 per cent of the revenue expected to come from crude oil production sales.