Nigeria’s crude oil, blended and unblended and condensate production increased to 1.473 million barrels per day in June, says a new report by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Data from the upstream regulatory body shows that the country’s oil production increased by 3.14 percent from 1.42 million bpd in May this year. On a year-on-year basis, it rose by 4.93 percent from 1.40 million bpd.
On average, crude oil production for the month was 1.24 mbpd. While blended and unblended condensate was 55,088 and 176,030 bpd respectively.
Crude oil is a natural liquid extracted from the ground. Blended condensate is created by mixing natural gas liquids, while unblended condensate remains pure without any mixing or processing after separation from raw natural gas.
“The continued efforts by regulatory, government security agencies, and private security firms in curbing pipeline vandalism and oil theft is paying off for the improved oil production figures when compared to the previous year,” said Etulan Adu, an oil and gas production engineer. There has been flow through the major trunk lines to oil terminals in the country.”
According to the upstream regulatory body, major oil terminals like Qua Iboe, Forcados and Escravos witnessed an increase in production. Oil production increased from 1.9 million barrels to 4.1 million barrels in Qua Iboe, 5.7 million barrels to 7 million barrels in Forcados and 3.9 million barrels to 4.7 million barrels in Escravos oil terminal.
Adu added that if the current drive is sustained and loopholes are cut off from the entire industry, Nigeria should expect substantial growth in meeting our current Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC quota.
“The government pledged to hit a target of 1.8 million bpd, but that will only be achieved through the right action and investment in improving the entire pipeline architecture and upstream activities,” he said.
