Nigeria on track to surpass OPEC’s oil production quota, says Lokpobiri

Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), says Nigeria is on track to surpass the oil production quota projected by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

On Thursday at the 36th OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting, the global oil cartel said Nigeria can achieve an oil production quota of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) in 2024.

Countering this in a report by Reuters, three consultancy firms — IHS, Rystad Energy, and Wood Mackenzie — which the OPEC tasked with verifying the country’s output ahead of policy decisions, said Nigeria will not meet the target.

In a post on his official X handle on Saturday, Lokpobiri said Nigeria currently produces 1.5 million barrels of crude daily.

Lokpobiri also said he is confident that the country will surpass more than the projections on the 2024 budget.

While highlighting key parameters of the 2024 budget, President Bola Tinubu said the government has adopted a daily oil production estimate of 1.78 million barrels per day.

“Arising from the 36th OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting held via video conferencing, I stated that Nigerians should know that our total production currently is 1.5mbpd for crude and 300,000bpd for condensate,” Lokpobiri posted.

“So what we are producing is much more than what is projected in the 2024 budget estimate and as such, there is nothing to worry about.

“However, it is worthy of note, that there was a general production cut across all OPEC member nations in our last meeting in June of this year. So it was not only Nigeria but all OPEC member states agreed to the 10% cut.

“We are on track with the objective of maintaining and surpassing the quota especially as we work productively towards resolving all bottlenecks that might pose as hindrances to the objective.”

In September 2023, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said Nigeria’s crude oil production level (including condensate) is currently at 1.67 million barrels per day.

However, in the latest drilling performance contained in the crude oil and condensate production data for October, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the country’s crude oil production increased to 1.35 million barrels per day.