Nigeria’s crude oil production declined 17.93 percent to 1.24 million barrels per day in April, compared with 1.52 million bpd in the previous month, data from the industry regulator showed on Thursday.
The latest data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showed that crude production output, including condensate, was highest in February at 1.54 million bpd and lowest in April as the January figure stood at 1.49 million bpd.
The volume of production is at its lowest point in the last seven months. In the previous year, oil production fell below one million barrels per day in August and September owing to several issues, including oil theft.
Condensate is a mixture of light liquid hydrocarbons, similar to light (high API) crude oil. It is usually separated from a natural gas stream at the point of production (field separation), when the temperature and pressure of the gas are dropped to atmospheric conditions.
Without condensate, Nigeria’s crude oil production stood at 998,602 bpd in April, representing the lowest in the first four months of the year, followed by January production at 1.25 million bpd and March with 1.26 million bpd, with the highest production in February at 1.30 million bpd.
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Speaking about the current oil output, Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer (CEO) of the NUPRC, said on Wednesday that oil production is currently about one million barrels per day below “its technically allowable capacity.”
He was represented by Kelechi Ofoegbu, the executive commissioner for economy, regulatory, and strategic planning at NUPRC, at a host community sensitization workshop.
Komolafe attributed the low oil production to a number of issues, including the energy transition’s impact on hydrocarbon funding, a lack of investments, and insecurity.
“While the commission is prioritizing efforts towards increasing oil and gas production and ensuring maximum federation revenue through the optimization of the oil and gas value chain, the efforts have been constrained by a myriad of challenges,” he said.
“These challenges range from insecurity, low investment, and de-prioritization of funding for hydrocarbon development arising from the energy transition.
“Currently, Nigeria has the technical allowable capacity to produce about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.” However, arising from the highlighted challenges, our current production hovers around 1.5 million barrels of oil and condensate per day.
