Nigeria’s total Crude oil production saw a marginal increase of 1.45% in May 2024, reaching 1.46 million barrels per day, up from 1.44 million barrels per day in April. However, this increase fell short of the country’s OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels per day and the 1.7 million barrels per day benchmark set for the 2024 national budget.
Jerrymusa.com reports that the latest production figures from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) contradict claims by Minister of State Petroleum Resources Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited CEO Mr. Mele Kyari that oil production had reached 1.7 million barrels per day.
NNPC Output Record
“The Commission, in partnership with its multi-client partners, has acquired more geological data resulting in the identification of more prospective blocks,” said Engr Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive of NUPRC.
“The newly identified blocks will be added to the pool of blocks originally scheduled for the bid exercise, and their details will be made available on the bid round portal.”
The output for May consisted of 1.25 million barrels per day of crude oil production and 217,076 barrels per day of condensate production, failing to meet targeted levels. This development highlights the challenges facing Nigeria’s oil sector, despite efforts to increase production and meet global demand.
The data from NUPRC showed that oil production in the first five months of the year has so far failed to improve, with production in January at 1.64mbpd, February at 1.54mbpd, and March at 1.43mbpd.
On a year-on-year basis, total production in May rose slightly by 2.6% compared to 1.43 million barrels per day recorded over a similar period in 2023.
“The Licencing Round is indeed expected to be a huge success for Nigeria and is a big step towards growing the nation’s oil and gas reserves through aggressive exploration and development efforts, boosting production, expanding opportunities for gas utilisation and end-to-end development across the value chain, strengthening energy security and economy,” said Engr. Komolafe.