Angola takes over again, as OPEC says Nigeria’s oil below 2mbpd

Angola, has for the fourth time, in a year, outclassed Nigeria as the largest exporter of crude oil in Africa.

According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Angola took over Nigeria’s lead, following Nigeria’s inability to meet up with its set targets for oil production in 2017.

The OPEC monthly oil market report (MOMR) shows that Nigeria has not been able to keep up with production levels above two million barrels per day.

Speaking at the 2017 Nigeria oil and gas conference and exhibition, Makainti Baru, general managing director of the NNPC said Nigeria’s production had climbed to 2.1 million barrels per day.

But OPEC data shows that Nigeria’s monthly average still falls below the two million mark.

According to direct communications with the NNPC, Nigeria’s production for February was put at 1.526 million barrels per day, while secondary sources say the country produced 1.608 million barrels per day.

“According to secondary sources, OPEC crude oil production in February decreased by 0.14 mb/d from the previous month to average 31.96 mb/d,” OPEC said.

“Crude oil output increased the most in Nigeria, while production in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE and Angola showed the largest declines.”

Nigeria aims to produce 2.2 million barrels of oil per day in 2017, and ramp up production to 2.5 million barrels by 2020.