Nigeria’s oil production in April 2023 fell below the one million mark – the lowest in seven months – as the production figure fell to 998,602 barrels per day (bpd).
This is a 21.26 per cent decline compared to March, when output was 1,268,202 bpd.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) disclosed this in its latest crude oil and condensate production data for April 2023.
The volume of production is at its lowest point in the last seven months.
In the previous year, oil production fell below one million bpd in August and September owing to several issues, including oil theft.
According to the NUPRC report, oil production decreased from 1.517 million bpd in March 2023 to 1.245 million bpd in April 2023, with the addition of condensate.
Condensate is a mixture of light liquid hydrocarbons, similar to a light (high API) crude oil. It is usually separated from a natural gas stream at the point of production (field separation) when the temperature and pressure of the gas are dropped to atmospheric conditions.
Speaking about the current oil output on Wednesday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, said that oil production is currently about one million bpd below “its technically allowable capacity”.
Komolafe, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner for Economy, Regulatory, And Strategic Planning, NUPRC, Kelechi Ofoegbu, at a host communities sensitisation workshop, attributed the low oil production to a number of issues, including the energy transition’s impact on hydrocarbon funding, a lack of investments, and insecurity.
“While the commission is prioritising efforts towards increasing oil and gas production and ensuring maximum federation revenue through the optimisation of the oil and gas value chain, the efforts have been constrained by a myriad of challenges.
“These challenges range from insecurity, low investment, and de-prioritisation of funding of hydrocarbon development arising from the energy transition.
“Currently, Nigeria has the technical allowable capacity to produce about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. However, arising from the highlighted challenges, our current production hovers around 1.5 million barrels of oil and condensate per day,” he said.
