The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said on Thursday, that Nigeria’s crude oil production witnessed the second consecutive monthly decline since the beginning of this year, dropping to 1.231 million barrels per day in March,
This was made known in OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report for April 2024. The Organisation said that crude oil production details which it got through direct communication from Nigeria showed that the country pumped less oil in March when compared to what was produced in February.
Data from the report indicated that Nigeria produced 1.322 million barrels per day of crude in February this year, but this dropped to 1.231mbpd in March, representing a plunge of 91mbpd.
The report further stated that the country had produced 1.427mbpd of crude in January, but this was not sustained in February as it dropped in that month, while the southward oil production continued in March.
OPEC data, however, showed that the country’s average crude oil production in the first quarter of 2024 was 1.327mbpd, higher than the 1.313mbpd average oil production in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Nigeria’s first quarter oil output in 2024 was also higher than the 1.201mbpd average production in the third quarter of last year.
But the massive oil theft and pipeline vandalism have contributed to the decline in Nigeria’s oil production.
These negative factors have severally been linked to the country’s dismal output and also made it fall below the volume approved for Nigeria by OPEC.
