Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, has recorded the best quarter in its crude oil export revenue since the covid 19 pandemic.
The country generated over ₦5.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2022, the highest in the last eight quarters, findings show, an increase of 31.66 percent compared to ₦4.3 trillion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country’s revenue also rose by 175.15 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2021(₦2.04 trillion).
Reacting to this development, Bala Zakka, an oil and gas analyst, said Nigeria did nothing new to achieve this feat rather Russia’s invasion of Ukraine played a major role.
He said: “what happened was the shortage of energy (oil and gas) globally and due to the issues going on between Russia and Ukraine there was a general increase in the price of crude oil in the international market.
“As far as production of crude oil and gas is concerned, Nigeria is still not able to meet up with its assigned quota,” he said. “Nigeria as a country did not do anything unique.”
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According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its latest report, Nigeria’s production was 1.32 million barrels per day (mbpd), when it was expected to produce 1.74 mbpd for the month.
On a year on year basis, the country has been having a steady decline in its oil production since 2020.
Meanwhile, in 2021, the country’s revenue had a volatile movement as the first and third quarters recorded a decline.
However, crude oil export has since seen a steady increase since the third quarter of last year.
Meanwhile, the NBS report shows that the value of exports trade in the first quarter of 2022 was dominated by crude oil exports which accounted for 79.16 percent of total exports.
“While non-crude oil exports value stood at ₦1,479.47billion, a 20.84 percent of total exports of which non-oil products contributed ₦715.19billion representing 10.07 percent of total exports.”
