LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-Nigeria’s daily oil production increased by 25,000 barrels per day, rising from 1.251 million barrels per day in May to 1.276 million barrels per day in July.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), stated this in its June Monthly Oil Market Report, based on direct communication with the Nigerian government.
According to the report released on Thursday, Nigeria’s oil production declined from 1.28 million barrels per day in April to 1.25 million barrels per day in May.
Despite government efforts to increase production, Nigeria was unable to reach April’s production level of 1.28 million barrels per day.
According to secondary sources, OPEC reported a decrease in production from 1.37 million barrels per day in May to 1.36 million barrels per day in June.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari previously stated in May that crude production was nearing 1.7 million barrels per day.
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Kyari, who spoke in May during a stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos said, “As of today’s data, we’re inching to 1.7mbpd. We won’t celebrate this. On 17th of April 2020, our production, without doing anything, without drilling new wells, shot to 2.2mbpd. The difference was COVID-19. The thieves, the vandals, everybody went to sleep.”
However, data from both OPEC and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission indicated a decline.
Nigeria’s daily oil production, which had been declining, showed a slight improvement in April, increasing from 1.23 million barrels per day in March to 1.28 million barrels per day, as per OPEC.
According to OPEC, Nigeria’s oil production increased by 50,000 barrels per day in April following recent declines.
The country’s crude production dropped significantly from 1.32 million barrels per day in February to 1.23 million barrels per day in March.
According to direct sources, production declined from 1.427 million barrels per day in January to 1.322 million barrels per day.
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The ongoing decrease in production occurred amidst stakeholders’ concerns about revenue loss due to the government’s failure to increase production.
Recently, the NNPC announced a state of emergency on oil production aimed at boosting Nigeria’s crude oil output and expanding its reserves.
Mele Kyari revealed this during his keynote address at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition Week in Abuja.
“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 declared.
Punch