Crude Oil Production Drops By 24.73%

According to data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigeria’s crude oil production crashed by 24.73 percent in September 2022 to 937,766 barrels per day.

This is a drop compared to 1.246 million barrels per day recorded over the corresponding month in 2021, the latest data from the Federal Government has shown.

NUPRC said that crude and condensate production for September 2022 was 1.137 million barrels per day, compared to 1.179 million barrels produced in August 2022.

Condensate productions are not part of Nigeria’s quota set by OPEC at 1.8 million barrels per day.

NUPRC data showed that the highest production in September came from Qua Iboe at 4.976 million barrels followed by Escravos at 3.272 million barrels during the month.

With the country battling to curb the activities of oil thieves and pipeline vandals that have crippled its oil industry, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, Mr. Mele Kyari has explained that what is stolen is not the difference between OPEC quota and the production figure.

Kyari disclosed that all major oil trunk lines have been shut down due to the activities of oil thieves and pipeline vandals.

“Today our production is around 1.23 million barrels per day. We have a proven production capacity of 2.49mbpd. But since Covid abated and the acts of vandals returned, we saw this gradual decline in our production to the point of 1.2mbpd.

“That means we can easily produce 2.49mbpd but we can’t do it because of acts of vandals. Now it doesn’t mean that the difference between 2.49m and 1.23m is stolen. As we speak, all our major trunk lines are shut down, which means we are not flowing crude oil in these lines. We could do it and it doesn’t mean crude is stolen. When the lines are running, you can lose a substantial part of that volume up to 200,000 barrels.

“In actual losses today, our budget level plan is to produce at 1.8mbpd and if you are doing 1.23m it means you are losing the difference between 1.23m and 1.8m which is around 600,000 barrels per day. This is an opportunity lost, not stolen”, he added.

Concerned by dwindling oil production, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, has expressed its determination to take bold and revolutionary steps, using a non-kinetic approach, to address the challenges of crude oil theft, improve national crude oil production and save the country’s economy from further degeneration.