The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has said crude oil production, which represents about two-thirds of government revenue and 90 per cent of its foreign exchange reserves, declined by 13.3% per cent against 2021 in the fourth quarter of 2022.
According to the bureau’s most recent data, Nigeria produced 1.3 million lesser barrels of oil per day on average in the fourth quarter than it did in the same quarter of 2021 (1.5 million bpd).
“Although the agriculture sector grew, its performance was significantly hampered by severe incidences of flood experienced across the country,” the NBS said.
The Punch reported that The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, had recently said that the vandalism of pipelines and theft of oil has led the low production of crude oil.
Due to pipeline damage and oil theft, the nation had been unable to reach OPEC production targets for the previous two years.
However, last Friday in Abuja, during the official ceremony to change NNPC into NNPCL, Kyari declared that Nigeria was close to achieving the 1.8 million barrels per day (mb/d) goal set by OPEC.
In his words, “As of yesterday, we had crossed 1.6 million barrels per day, this is not rocket science. We have a line of sight to recover to the quota level of 1.8 million barrels per day.
“I know it is not far away, probably two to three months maximum, but we will be there and that will bring back partners to invest, return the confidence of our investors and ultimately bring back growth.”
