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Nigeria’s crude oil output rises 7.7%, says OPEC

Nigeria inched closer to meeting its 2024 budget oil production output benchmark of 1.78 million barrels per day (mbpd) as its December 2023 oil output rose by 7.7 percent.

According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) Monthly Oil Market Reports (MOMR) released yesterday, the country witnessed a 100, 000 bpd rise in its December 2023 production output as it rose to 1.4 mbpd compared to the November figure which stood at 1.3 mbpd.

OPEC+, which explained that the data used for the computation were based on information from secondary sources, added that based on the January 2024 MOMR, Nigeria remains the highest African oil-producing and exporting nation while Equatorial Guinea came last with only 55,000 bpd.With this increase, the country continues to recover from a heavily disrupted crude sector plagued by oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

Stakeholders noted that with the steady increase in oil production output in the country, the Federal Government’s renewed fight against the major factors responsible for Nigeria’s consistent failure to meet her production output quota given by OPEC, such as vandalism, oil theft, and other malfeasance in the oil and gas sector is yielding positive dividends.

For instance, recently, 52 illegal refineries were discovered and destroyed in Abia, Imo, Rivers and Bayelsa states, while 32 illegal connections were uncovered in several parts of the Niger Delta.

They were removed and repaired along central corridor in the Niger Delta, while seven illegal storage sites were uncovered in Akwa Ibom State and buried crude drums unearthed in bushes in Bayelsa and Warri, Delta.

The early signs of improved oil production output are early signs that give the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, confidence that the 2024 crude oil production benchmark of 1.78 million barrels per day (bpd) is achievable. Besides, with crude oil closing at $78.85 per barrel yesterday and the United States Energy Information Association (EIA) projecting that Brent crude oil price will average $82 per barrel this year on expectations that global supply and demand of petroleum liquids will be relatively balanced, experts say it may be happy days for the country revenue-wise because these figures surpass the 2024 budget benchmark for oil price of $77.96 per barrel.

This, they maintained can only be achieved if the government can ensure the stability and volume of production output and the ability to attain the quota allocated to Nigeria by OPEC.

“High crude oil price is good for oil and gas sector investment because of the effect on returns.  The uptrend in oil price is likely to continue deep into 2024 as the geo-political factors driving the price have not abated.  If anything, they seem to have intensified. The present administration has been unwavering in its commitment to tackling crude oil theft.  We expect the momentum to be sustained in 2024 and the impact on the outlook will be significantly impressive,” said the Managing Director, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr. Muda Yusuf.