Nigeria’s daily crude oil production output, for the first time since July 2022, rose above one million barrelsperdayinOctober2022, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has declared. NUPRC’s October Crude Oil Production Report revealed that the nation’s daily crude oil production output averaged 1,014,485 barrels per day d in October.
The last time Nigeria’s crude oil production supply averaged more than one million barrels per day was in July, at 1,083,899 bpd. The country’s daily production was 937,000 in September and 972,000bpd in August, which meant declined revenue for the federal government.
The decrease in production between July and September was caused by the reduction in production output from Forcados terminal, Bonny, Brass, and 11 other crude oil terminals out of Nigeria’s 29 terminals. The NUPRC had earlier reported that the production output from 13 out of Nigeria’s 29 crude oil terminals declined drastically between July and September 2022, which contributed to the falling numbers.
The oil production decline was blamed on oil theft in the Niger Delta Region. Data from the NUPRC showed that the worst-hit rude terminals were Bonny, Brass, and Forcados, with production output decreased by 79per cent, 40.5 per cent, and 96.5 per cent respectively during the period under review.
According to the report, of the three terminals, Forcados terminal recorded the highest loss from over three million barrels in July to a little over 100, 000 barrels in September. It added that the production output from Forcados was 3,858,188 in July, 208,430 in August and 134,437 in September. Also, crude oil output from Bonny was 799,294 in July; 749,463 in August and 167,582 in September.
The report stated that outputfortheBrassterminal, was 290,227inJuly, 270,932inAugust and 172,814 in September. Recall that Nigeria has seriallyailedtomeettheOrganisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) crude oil production quota of 1.826 million barrels per day (bpd), as it produced a paltry 927,000 bpd in August, and an earlier drop in July.
The country’s inability in recent times to meet OPEC’s alloted quota has seen it resorting to borrowing to fund its budget deficit, since it largely depends on crude oil sale proceeds for its budget benchmark. The OPEC report in July showed that Nigeria recorded an average of 1.183 million barrels per day in its oil production for that month.
The slump in the production quota came at a time OPEC and its allies (OPEC+) increased Nigeria’s oil output quota to 1.830 million barrels per day, with effect from September 2022. Some economists had emphasized how unhealthy the development is for the economy since Nigeria largely depends on crude oil sales for its budget fundings.
