According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Nigeria produced an average of 1.19 million barrels per day in December 2021, down from 1.26 million bpd in November 2021, based on direct communication

This drop triggered a loss of about N74.51bn in oil earnings.

According to OPEC data, an average daily loss of 78,000 barrels was recorded in December, translating to a total loss of 2.42 million barrels in the month.

Figures from countryeconomy.com showed that in December, the average price of Brent, the international benchmark against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, was $74.17 per barrel.

At the official exchange rate of N415.45 to a dollar, it implies that the loss of 2.418 million barrels of crude oil in December reduced the country’s earnings by about N74.51bn.

Breakdown Analysis 

OPEC’s latest report indicated that in the first quarter of 2021, Nigeria’s oil production stood at an average of 1.312 million bpd.

This moved up to an average of 1.34 million bpd in Q2, but the momentum could not be sustained, as the country’s crude oil production dropped to 1.27 million bpd in Q3.

The plunge in oil production persisted in the fourth quarter of last year, dropping to an average of 1.233 million barrels daily in the last quarter.

Meanwhile, data compiled from NNPC’s Crude Oil Marketing Division report of events that affected oil production in August, September and October indicated that the country consistently posted losses during the period under review.

The report had shown that the worth of the crude volumes lost by the country in August, September and October were N194.71bn, N195.246bn and N166.05bn respectively.

This implies that the value of crude oil that was lost by Nigeria during the three-month period was about N556bn.