Oil production figures for Nigeria crashed to an average of 999,000 (0.999 million) voluntary production level in barrels per day (bpd) in April, just as Angola overtook Nigeria and led Africa with 1.063mbpd oil production in the month.
This is according to the April Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) released on Thursday.
Data obtained by OPEC through direct communication with the member countries, indicated that Angola’s oil production at 1.063mbpd overtook Nigeria’s production figure, which stood at 999,000bpd in April, the same level with Algeria’s oil production in the month.
Nigeria lost 270,000bpd of oil compared to its 1.268mbpd production figure in March, the OPEC data revealed.
However, the OPEC data obtained from secondary sources show that Nigeria’s production figure was 1.180mbpd, which was higher than that of Angola at 1.085mbpd.
Daily Trust Saturday further confirmed the oil production drop based on the oil production status for April released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
While the total liquid production was 1.245mbpd in April, the actual crude oil produced was 998,602bpd. Blended condensate was 66,317bpd, while unblended condensate was 180,110bpd.
The highest crude oil produced in the four months of this year was 1.306mbpd recorded in February 2023. The figure grew from 1.258mbpd in January; by March, it dropped to 1.268mbpd and further plunged to the 998,602bpd recorded in April, the NUPRC stated.
In terms of whole liquid production, February saw the highest production of 1.547mbpd after rising from 1.494mbpd in January before dropping slightly to 1.517mbpd in March and then 1.245mbpd in April.
Just on Wednesday, the Commission Chief Executive (CCE) of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, said challenges that include insecurity, energy theft in Nigeria’s oil-producing communities, along with low investment, had stalled the production of about one million barrels of crude oil daily.
He gave the indication that Nigeria produced 1.5mbpd of oil.
