Nigeria lost 165,000 barrels per day due to crude oil production disruptions between January and May 2023.
The African Energy Chamber gave this information in its Q2 State of African Energy report, which was published in August 2023.
According to the research, Nigeria’s unplanned outages from January through May cost the nation roughly 165,000 bpd and accounted for more than 90% of all unscheduled outages during that time.
The report added that numerous problems caused these unforeseen outages throughout the country.
The output of Nigeria in H1 2023 was also influenced by maintenance work being done on fields that were feeding the Forcados, Usan, and Abo crude streams.
Take note that in July 2023, Nigeria produced 1,081,396 barrels of crude oil per day, along with 38,258 barrels and 174,509 barrels per day, respectively, of blended and unblended condensates. For the entire month, they added up to 1,294,162 barrels each day.
Nigeria’s oil production rate has now fallen below 1.4 m/bpd twice since the year 2023 began; the first occasion was in April 2023, when the country produced 1,245,028 barrels.
According to the AEC research, only Algeria is anticipated to produce more than the target and so continue to adhere to the OPEC cuts and targets for 2024 based on field-level performance from the producing fields in countries like Algeria, Nigeria, and Angola.
According to projections, Nigeria will still be able to meet 95% of its production goals despite significant cuts of 360,000 bpd, and as a result, can be expected to fully adhere to the OPEC cuts—not because the country is following the policies, but rather because the production capacity is lower than the target.
At an OPEC seminar in Vienna, Austria, in July 2023, a panel debate on energy security was held. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, Aduda, informed the audience that the security challenges in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector have not entirely stopped investors from investing in the sector.
“The oil and gas investments will help the country in its energy transition agenda because there is also a need to invest in critical minerals which are needed for developing renewable energies,” he said.