Nigeria’s crude oil production increased to 1.27mbpd in June, says OPEC

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production increased to 1.27 million barrels per day (bpd) in June.

In its monthly oil market report released on Wednesday, the oil cartel said the production data was based on direct communication with Nigerian authorities.

OPEC receives data on crude oil production from two sources: direct communication — which is from member countries — and secondary communication, such as energy intelligence platforms.

According to the intergovernmental body, the current output figure represents a 1.57 percent rise from the 1.25 million bpd recorded in May.

Due to the current production figure, OPEC said Nigeria retained its position as the biggest oil producer in Africa, surpassing Angola, which produced 906,000 bpd in June.

With 259,000 bpd in June, Congo ranked third among the biggest oil producers in Africa, according to OPEC.

However, the oil alliance said secondary sources reported that Nigeria’s crude production decreased by 0.74 percent to 1.36 million bpd — from 1.37 million bpd reported in April.

“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.57 mb/d in June 2024, 80 tb/d lower, m-o-m,” OPEC said.

“Crude oil output increased mainly in Libya, Venezuela and IR Iran, while production in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE decreased.

“At the same time, total non-OPEC DoC crude oil production averaged 14.24 mb/d in June 2024, 45 tb/d lower, m-o-m. Crude oil output increased mainly in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, while production in Russia decreased.”

On July 2, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, declared a state of emergency on Nigeria’s crude oil production.

“We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production,” he said.

Kyari said a detailed asset analysis showed Nigeria could easily produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs, but the primary obstacle is the inability of industry players to act promptly.