Nigeria’s Defense Minister has said that oil production will reach 1.9 million barrels per day by year-end.
He said this during a recent interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to the Minister, Bello Matawalle, the federal government is committed to the fight against crude oil theft as a solution to increasing crude oil production in the country.
He stated further that as a result of the efforts by the government, crude oil theft is not as active as it used to be.
He said:
“Before now, due to oil theft activities in the Niger Delta region, oil production dropped to about one million barrels per day. But with the Federal Government’s actions and the onslaught of the combined military against oil thieves, production has increased.
“We are hoping that at the end of this year, we will reach about 1.9 million barrels per day. We are taking serious action; operations have been conducted in that area.
“Most of the illegal panels were destroyed, most of the people were arrested and, with the level we are today, we are okay. We work together by sharing intelligence, we shall continue working together.”
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It is important to note that as of October 2023, data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) shows that the country’s crude oil production was 1.5 million barrels per day.
In the month of October 2023, the country produced 1,350,573 crude oil, 48,461 blended condensates and 163,038 unblended condensates, totalling 1,562,072.
It is also important to note that since the second quarter of 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has provided weekly data on crude oil theft activities in the Niger Delta region.
The data shared often reflects a fluctuating number of crude oil theft activities in the region.
Note that between October 28 and November 3, the country recorded 227 cases of crude oil theft, higher than the 144 cases unveiled the week before.
It is important for Nigeria to increase its crude oil production and meet its OPEC quota of 1.7 million barrels per day before the end of the year, if not, the country runs the risk of adhering to a new crude oil production quota of 1.38 million barrels per day from January 2024, effectively resulting in reduced oil revenues and increasing the chances of continuous foreign exchange shortages.
