Nigeria’s oil production in the month of July 2023 fell by 13.6 percent to an average of 1.08 million barrels per day compared to 1.25mbpd recorded in June, latest production data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, has indicated.
The latest production figure is a major setback for the government which has a production target of 1.69 million barrels per day in the 2023 budget.
The volume of production is also significantly lower than the 1.7 million barrels per day quota allocated to the country by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
The NUPRC data released yesterday also showed that blended and unblended condensate oil daily production in July were 38,258 barrels and 174,509 barrels respectively. Condensate oil productions are not part of Nigeria’s OPEC production quota.
In total, daily average oil production in July was 1.29 million barrels per day, a 12.8 percent drop when compared to total average daily production of 1.48 million barrels in June.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited had projected oil production to hit 1.8 million barrels per day (mbpd) by the fourth quarter of this year, as measures put in place to boost production begin to yield results.
Disclosing the new target in Abuja during a session at the recently concluded Nigeria Oil Gas Energy Week, the Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPC Ltd, Engr. Adokiye Tombomieye, said the target is to first hit the 1.7mbpd mark at the end of the third quarter.
Tombomieye said the new production targets would be achieved through asset integrity, production ramp up, well interventions, new drillings, alternative crude oil evacuation and improved security architecture.
He noted that upstream opportunities exist in the deep-water space, explaining that NNPC Limited was working with its partners to achieve final investments on key major projects including the Bonga North field that would add 120,000bpd to national production.
Tombomieye stressed that to achieve these targets a conducive investment climate was needed, adding that the new NNPC Limited structure “creates a level playing ground for investors”.
Credit: The Vanguard