TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says the country’s crude oil production has increased to 1.6 million barrels.

Bala Wunti, chief upstream investment officer (CUIO), NNPC upstream investment management services, said this at the 11th Practical Nigerian Content forum in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state on Tuesday.

He said the country’s oil production as of Tuesday was 1.6 million barrels per day — up from 1,014,485 barrels in October.

Wunti said the output increase was a result of the government’s all-inclusive approach to the fight against crude oil theft.

“Crude theft affects all architecture that funds the country. When the oil theft reached its peak, everything including gas production was affected,” he said.

“One, we have security agencies in which the navy, the police, and everyone within that space was involved. The second is the regulators angle. At this stage, all regulators are made to fully be part of the efforts. 

“Third is the operators’ angle. And, of course, all operators were involved. The fourth angle is the community angle in which all impacted communities have to be brought under the umbrella of a structured arrangement in the collective effort against crude oil theft. In all, these efforts were able to do three things: detect, deter, and respond appropriately.

“As at today, oil production is at 1.59 million barrels per day.”

Nigeria has been grappling with low production in the face of the lingering oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

In 2022, the country has not been able to produce above 1.4 million barrels of oil in 2022. This is below the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of 1.8 million bpd.