BY Bunmi Aduloju
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production dropped to 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in May.
OPEC made this known in its monthly oil market report released on Tuesday.
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; as well as secondary communication, such as energy intelligence platforms.
According to the organisation, the current output figure represents a 2.34 percent decline from the 1.28 million bpd recorded in April.
Despite the decline, OPEC said the country retained its position as the largest oil producer in Africa, followed by Libya, which produced 901,000 million bpd in the reviewed month.
OPEC said Algeria was the third-largest oil producer with 264,00 bpd in May.
However, the oil cartel said secondary sources reported Nigeria’s crude production increased by five percent to 1.41 million bpd — from 1.35 million bpd reported in April.
Both the figures from the government and secondary sources fell below the 2024 production quota of 1.5 million bpd set for the country by OPEC.
Also, in the report, OPEC said crude oil output increased mainly in Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea according to secondary sources but decreased in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya and Congo.
“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.63 mb/d in May 2024, 29 tb/d higher, m-o-m,” OPEC said.
“Crude oil output increased mainly in Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, while production in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya and Congo decreased.
“At the same time, total non-OPEC DoC crude oil production averaged 14.29 mb/d in May 2024, 152 tb/d lower, m-o-m.
“Crude oil output increased mainly in Mexico, while production in Russia and Kazakhstan decreased.”
On May 20, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said Nigeria has the potential to produce two million bpd.
However, he said that “is not possible today” due to oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region.
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