Shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon, a company that monitors export flows, revealed that the country’s production has yet to fully recover as it exported only 1.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) against the 1.6 million b/d quota set for it by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). .
This report is based on findings by Punch NG, a Nigerian news agency. According to this report, 1.2mb/d exports would bring total January exports to 37.2 million barrels, compared with 1.6mb/d exports of 49.6 million expected.
Nigeria was not the only country to fall short of OPEC’s production quota, however, the figures are discouraging for a country that holds the position of Africa’s top oil producer.
During the period under review, Nigeria was primed to export N1.5tn from production of 37. 2 million barrels, against the projected revenue of N2tn if OPEC’s quota is met. Because of the situation, Nigeria lost approximately N500 billion because it did not meet the OPEC limit of 1.6 million barrels per day.
This decline in Nigeria’s oil production will be a consistent problem from 2022 due to destruction of oil infrastructure and theft. This is according to the Group Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, who has been making the matter public since last year.
The Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPCL Upstream Investment Management Services, Bala Wunti, also spoke on the same issue, noting that the complications arising from the theft are having a large ripple effect on the Nigerian economy, with oil export being Nigeria’s primary source of revenue.
“Crude theft affects all the infrastructure that funds the country. When oil theft reached its peak, everything was affected, including gas production. He said.
This is a problem because Africa can benefit from a global market gap in the oil market. This is evident from the fact that some large oil cooperatives have started setting up shop in different regions of the continent.
If Nigeria can fix its oil theft problem soon, it will become a major player in filling the market gap globally in the oil sector.
