Nigeria lost 3.33 million barrels of crude oil to theft in 2025, with nearly two-thirds of the reported losses recorded in the last three months of the year.
Over the same period, revenue collected by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission fell by ₦2.14tn, according to The PUNCH.
The commission’s 2025 annual report, released on Thursday, showed that crude oil and gas revenue collections dropped from ₦12.56tn in 2024 to ₦10.42tn in 2025, a decline of 17.03 per cent. This came despite higher receipts from gas flare penalties, signature bonuses and concession rentals.
According to the report, crude theft climbed sharply in the fourth quarter, when 2.19 million barrels were recorded. That was 65.8 per cent of the year’s total reported volume and nearly five times the 440,434 barrels recorded in the third quarter.
The commission recorded 896,471 barrels of crude theft in the first quarter. Its second-quarter report showed a negative figure of 200,400 barrels, which it attributed to excess volumes identified during reconciliation.
Put together, the quarterly figures brought reported losses for the year to about 3.33 million barrels.
The report read, “Nigeria recorded 896,471 barrels of crude oil theft in the first quarter.
The second quarter recorded a negative 200,400 barrels, which the commission described as an excess volume in its reconciliation. Reported theft stood at 440,434 barrels in the third quarter. The fourth quarter recorded 2.19 million barrels, the highest quarterly volume of the year.”
The losses occurred despite the heavy financial burden of securing the country’s petroleum assets. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reported energy security costs of ₦8.67tn in 2025, compared with about ₦3.1tn in 2024.
The expenditure reflects the cost of interventions to protect oil and gas infrastructure and support national energy security, although the entire amount cannot be attributed solely to fighting crude theft.
The persistence of theft alongside rising security costs raises questions about how effective the measures to protect production facilities and crude evacuation infrastructure have been.
The losses also represent crude that could otherwise have added to government revenue, export earnings and the supply of feedstock to domestic refineries.
Despite the reported theft, Nigeria produced 541.08 million barrels of crude oil and blended condensate in 2025.
Quarterly production stood at 132.70 million barrels in the first quarter, 137.69 million in the second, 137.45 million in the third and 133.23 million in the fourth quarter.
The country also produced 48.52 million barrels of unblended condensate during the year.
On revenue, oil and gas royalties, including Project Gazelle and NNPC receivables, remained the largest contributor at ₦8.97tn in 2025, compared with ₦11.08tn in 2024. The fall of ₦2.11tn represented a 19.03 per cent reduction.
“The total approved budget for 2025 was N645,462,335,500.80, with total income of N342,814,462,174.97 and total expenditure was N304,533,385,103. Total revenue generated was N10,424,478,448,682.40, which is 63 per cent of projected revenue of N16,538,206,608,738.00.
“357 oil spill incidents were reported. 49.5 per cent of the spills were a result of sabotage. There was an increase of 64.74 per cent in revenue in 2024 over 2023 and a decrease of 20.53 per cent in 2025 over 2024 revenues,” the report added.
Receipts from gas flare penalties, however, rose from ₦391.26bn to ₦611.42bn, an increase of 56.27 per cent.
Signature bonuses also grew by 44.2 per cent, from ₦369.58bn in 2024 to ₦532.94bn in 2025.
Concession rentals rose by 61.1 per cent, from ₦23.71bn to ₦38.19bn.
Miscellaneous revenue increased from ₦35.20bn to ₦46.44bn.
Royalty by price, on the other hand, declined from ₦313.72bn to ₦213.41bn.
Lease renewal receipts fell sharply from ₦230.73bn to ₦8.23bn.
The commission’s total income from cost of revenue collection and internally generated revenue rose by 21.85 per cent to ₦342.81bn in 2025, from ₦281.34bn in 2024.
The report showed that cost of revenue collection contributed ₦335.45bn, while internally generated revenue accounted for ₦7.36bn.
The commission generated ₦10.42tn against a projected revenue target of ₦16.54tn, which amounts to 63 per cent performance.
Beyond crude theft, the report documented 357 oil spill incidents during the year, with sabotage responsible for 49.5 per cent of the reported cases.
