Nigeria’s crude oil production for February falls to 1.32 million b/d – OPEC

For February, Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped to 1.32 million barrels per day from the 1.42-million-barrel oil daily production- a drop of 104,000 barrels per day.

This is according to OPEC’s monthly oil market report (MOMR).

The figure for the month was based on direct communication from Nigeria to OPEC’s authorities.

However, based on secondary sources, Nigeria recorded a daily crude oil production of 1.47 million barrels for February. This represents an increase of 47,000 barrels of oil per day.

Although crude oil production dropped for the month, Nigeria still retained its position as Africa’s biggest oil producer among the continental members of OPEC.

Nigeria’s closest rival on the continent was Libya whose oil production for the month stood at 1.17 mb/d followed by Algeria which did 906,000 barrels daily.

According to the report, the global oil production for 2024 from non-OPEC producers is expected to grow by 1.1 million barrels daily while that from OPEC countries is projected to grow by 64,000 barrels daily averaging around 5.5 million barrels for the year.

For February, oil production from OPEC countries increased by 203,000 barrels daily to reach around 26.5 million barrels daily for the month according to data from secondary sources.

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It stated, “OPEC-12 crude oil production in February increased by 203 tb/d, m-o-m, averaging 26.57 mb/d, as reported by available secondary sources.”

Despite commitments to oil production cuts going forward, Saudi Arabia increased its oil production for the month by around 55,000 barrels daily. It also continued its unchallenged position as the largest oil producer in the world with around 9.01 million barrels daily.

In the month under review, oil prices rose by around $1.19, or 1.5% to an average of $81.23/barrel according to OPEC’s reference basket. Brent crude went up by 3.2% to average around $81.72/barrel while NYMEX WTI futures contract rose by $2.75 to average $76.61/barrel.

The drop in crude oil production for February makes it the second consecutive month in the year that the country has failed to meet the target crude oil production benchmark in its 2024 budget and also its production quota as stipulated by OPEC. For 2024, Nigeria proposed a daily crude oil production of 1.78 million barrels while OPEC pegged its production at 1.5 million barrels daily.

Reduced crude oil production dents the federal government’s plan to raise revenues to execute its budget. It also negatively affects the ability of the CBN to increase FX liquidity to shore up the value of the naira.

Last week, President Tinubu signed a slew of executive orders geared towards making the Nigerian oil industry more attractive to investors. Chief among them was the executive order to reduce contract cycles to six months max and the provision of specific financial incentives for Deepwater investments etc.