Nigeria’s daily oil production decreased by 160,000 barrels per day in the second quarter of 2024.
This was disclosed in the recent National Bureau of Statistics report.
The report revealed that during this period, the country averaged a daily production of 1.41 million barrels per day (mbpd), down from 1.57 mbpd in the first quarter.
However, it is higher than the daily average production of 1.22 mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2023 by 190,000 barrels.
“The nation in the second quarter of 2024 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.41 million barrels per day, higher than the daily average production of 1.22mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2023 by 0.19mbpd and lower than the first quarter of 2024 production volume of 1.57 mbpd by 0.16mbpd,” the NBS report disclosed.
Nigeria’s oil production has been on a downward trajectory since 2020, when output dropped from nearly 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to 1.6 mbpd.
This decline follows a period between 2018 and 2019, when the nation averaged 2 mbpd each quarter.
In the second quarter of 2020, production fell to 1.81 mbpd, followed by a further decline to 1.67 mbpd in the third quarter.
The downward trend continued, reaching a low of 1.2 mbpd in the second quarter of 2022.
Despite efforts by the government to reverse the trend, challenges such as oil theft and vandalism have prevented Nigeria from achieving its production targets.
As a result, the country has consistently failed to meet the 1.5 mbpd quota set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Recently, the Federal Government announced renewed efforts to increase production to 2 million barrels per day. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, emphasized that reaching this target is crucial to providing sufficient feedstock for Dangote and other local refineries.
Meanwhile, the NBS added that the real growth of the oil sector was 10.15 per cent (year-on-year) in Q2 2024, indicating an increase of 23.58 percentage points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2023 (-13.43 per cent).
It was said that growth increased by 4.45 percentage points when compared to Q1 2024, which was 5.70 per cent.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of -10.51 per cent in Q2 2024.
The oil sector contributed 5.70% to Nigeria’s total real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2024, according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics.
This marks an increase from the 5.34% contribution recorded in the same period of 2023 but a decline from the 6.38% recorded in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector experienced a year-on-year growth of 7.65% in Q2 2024.
However, this growth is significantly lower than the 41.61% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2023, and it also represents a 10.30 percentage point decline from the 17.95% growth rate seen in the previous quarter.
“The contribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply to nominal GDP in the second quarter of 2024 was 1.56 per cent, lower than the contribution made in the corresponding quarter of 2023 at 1.70 per cent and higher than its contribution of 0.41 per cent in the quarter before.”
