*Production still far cry from 1.8m bpd OPEC quota
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Nigeria’s oil production grew by 48,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February, culminating in 1.306 million bpd output during the month under review, according to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) yesterday.
The figure was greater when put side by side the 1.258 million bpd in January reported by the oil sector regulator to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) of which Nigeria is a key member.
At an average price of Brent crude at $83 per barrel during the month under consideration, a THISDAY calculation showed that the country raked in a gross amount of $111.6 million or roughly N52 billion at the official naira to dollar price of N460/$. That is at an estimated additional 1.344 million barrels for the month.
But considering secondary data from energy intelligence organisations, Nigeria’s supply may have increased by as much as 100,000 barrels per day, a Reuters survey found last week.
The Nigerian authorities are targeting to lift output to 1.6 million bpd this quarter.
Nigeria has been unable to meet its OPEC production quota for over a year and has therefore failed to take advantage of high international oil prices.
While the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) had said production was over 1.6 million bpd, in January, the NUPRC put the figure at just over 1.25 million bpd and in February has now pegged it at 1.3 million bpd.
However, the NNPC’s calculation may have included condensates, not usually computed by OPEC, which for the month of January was 1.494 million bpd and in February jumped to 1.547 million bpd.
Nigeria had recently begun to curb the massive oil thefts through the collaboration of security forces, community groups and the government agencies in the sector, a development that has helped ramp up production.
With the rebound in Nigeria’s output in February, the overall compliance with the OPEC agreement increased to 169 per cent of pledged cuts, against 172 per cent in January.
But January’s increase of 28,000 bpd and February’s 48,000 bpd rise mark a decrease in the rate of growth in the country’s production compared to the over 55,000 bpd increase in December, 2022 a THISDAY review of the data showed.
The rise in the volume of oil drilled by Nigeria came after months of stalling in its crude oil production projection with the biggest oil production asset being Forcados. Nigeria’s production fell to as low as 900,000 bpd in part of the last quarter of 2022.
Nigeria’s budget for 2023 is N21.8 trillion 2023 while the crude oil benchmark is pegged at $75 per barrel from the previous $70 per barrel. The country’s crude oil production for 2023 has been benchmarked at 1.69 million bpd.
However, several experts have expressed doubt over the ability of the NNPC and its partners to hit that production level of 1.8 million bpd this year, especially with the latest sabotage on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) in which 12 persons died in Rivers State recently.
