The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, has said that the country’s average daily production stood at 1.61 million barrels per day as of July 23.
Komolafe disclosed this at the House of Representatives Special Committee’s two-day public/investigative hearing on oil theft/losses.
“As of July 23, 2024, Nigeria’s average daily production stands at 1.61mbpd,” he disclosed.
This is coming barely two weeks after the commission announced that the average daily oil production for June was 1.25mbpd.
He admitted that the country is facing significant challenges regarding crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism, especially affecting terminals in the Niger Delta region such as at Bonny, Brass, and Forcados.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had stated in September 2022 that it lost $700m every month to oil theft.
Also, the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative added that Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels, valued at N16.3tn, to crude oil theft from 2005 to 2021.
In 2023, the NNPC spent N136 billion on security, repairs, and maintenance of vandalized infrastructure, per Dataphyte.
Accordingly, Komolafe said, “This has prompted the commission to employ end-to-end production monitoring and a mass balance methodology to accurately account for losses and differentiate them from operational losses.
“These interventions have significantly reduced theft, with zero incidents reported in July 2023”.
The development comes amid the domestic crude oil supply challenge facing the 650,000 barrel per day Lagos-based, Dangote Refinery.
Dangote Refinery had on several occasions looked to the United States, Brazil and recently contemplated seeking crude supply from Libya and Angola to meet up with its demand amid a plan to commence supply of fuel in August 2024.
Nigeria’s crude oil production increases to 1.61mbpd in July – NUPRC
