Nigeria Pumps Up Oil Production: 159 Million Barrels in Four Months

Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has revealed that Nigeria produced 159,158,191 barrels of crude oil in the first four months of 2024.

According to the NUPRC data, the breakdown of crude oil production from January to April is as follows:

– In January, 44.2 million barrels were produced, with an average daily production of 1.42 million barrels per day (mbpd).
– In February, the country pumped 38.3 million barrels of oil at an average of 1.32 mbpd.
– March saw a production of 38.1 million barrels, with a daily output of 1.23 mbpd.
– In April, daily oil production rose marginally to 1.28 mbpd, resulting in a monthly production of 38.4 million barrels.

Comparatively, during the same period in 2023, Nigeria produced a total of 144.8 million barrels of crude oil, which is 14.3 million barrels lower than the output recorded in 2024. However, in the first four months of 2020, the country produced 215.2 million barrels of crude oil, indicating a decline of 56 million barrels from the same period this year.

Despite efforts to increase daily output, Nigeria has been grappling with low oil production, exacerbated by challenges such as oil theft and vandalism, which discourage investments in the oil and gas sector. Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), recently highlighted the negative impacts of these issues on the nation’s economy.

Kyari expressed optimism about increased oil production going forward, emphasizing the need to address security challenges in onshore assets and infrastructure to deliver oil volumes to the market. He noted substantial efforts by the government to tackle these challenges, which he believes will yield positive results.

“As of May 18, our production is inching towards 1.7 mbpd,” Kyari stated, underscoring the importance of resolving security issues to attract investments in oil production.