TheCable

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production dropped to 1.23 million barrels per day (bpd) in March 2024.

OPEC disclosed this in its monthly oil market report released on Thursday.

The oil alliance 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 members of the group; as well as secondary communication, such as energy intelligence platforms.

The oil cartel said the current output figure represents a 6.88 percent decrease from the 1.32 million bpd recorded in February.

The latest figure also means that Nigeria’s output has steadily reduced since the start of the year — from 1.42 million bpd recorded in January.

Consequently, the country lost its position as the biggest oil producer in Africa to Libya (which produced 1.24 million bpd in the month under review).

Algeria was the third-largest oil producer with 907,000 bpd in the month examined, the group said.

Meanwhile, OPEC’s secondary sources put Nigeria’s crude production at 1.398 million bpd — a 5.28 percent fall from the 1.476 million bpd reported by the oil alliance in February.

“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.60 mb/d in March 2024, 3 tb/d higher, m-o-m” the statement reads.

“Crude oil output increased mainly in IR Iran, Suadi Arabia, Gabon and Kuwait, while production in Nigeria, Iraq and Venezuela decreased.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), on January 1, unveiled plans to shore up the country’s oil production to 2.6 million bpd by 2026.