Nigeria’s oil production drops to new low

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) oil output dropped to an average of 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.25 million in February 2022.

NUPRC disclosed this in its latest crude oil and condensate production data for March 2022.

According to the NUPRC figure, this represents a 0.80 percent decrease from the previous month — representing the lowest production capacity so far in the year.

The country is producing below 1.4 million barrels per day in 2022, failing to meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of about 1.8 million bpd.

Using the March oil price figure, Nigeria might have lost N900 billion in oil earnings for the month.

According to Statista, the average price of one barrel of Brent crude oil, the benchmark for Nigeria’s oil, was 117.25 US dollars in March 2022 as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war.

For such a price, Nigeria’s revenue from the oil boom should have been N2.7 trillion ($117.25 x 1.8mbpd x 31), however, due to the country’s failure to reach the OPEC quota, just N1.8 trillion in oil revenue was expected, barring other complicating factors.ret