Nigeria’s crude oil production fell last month after two consecutive months of increase, putting a damper on the government’s drive to ramp up its foreign exchange earnings and stabilise the naira.
Crude oil production declined to 1.56 million barrels per day (mbpd) in October, indicating a 0.65 percent drop from the preceding month, a new report by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has revealed.
The production had risen to a high of 1.57mbpd in September.
The NUPRC’s oil production report covers crude oil, blended and unblended condensate.
According to the report, the average crude oil production for the month was 1.35mbpd, while blended and unblended condensate were 48,461 and 163,038bpd respectively.
Crude oil is a natural liquid extracted from the earth. Blended condensate is generated by mixing natural gas liquids, whereas unblended condensate remains pure after separation from raw natural gas.
Oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and frequent shut-ins have continued to crimp the country’s output.
Last week, Ogbonnaya Orji, executive secretary of Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), said that crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism have become a national emergency.
“With a loss of 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at $46.16 billion, or N16.25 trillion between 2009 and 2020, curbing the twin menace of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism has become a national emergency challenge,” he said.
He said solutions must be found for the challenge if investors’ confidence in the country’s oil and gas industry is to be restored and trust rebuilt, towards boosting national economic growth.
According to him, strengthening security around the country’s oil and gas pipeline system was key to the ongoing search for solutions to the intractable scourge of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
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“From NEITI’s 2021 Oil and Gas Industry report released last month, the sector accounted for 72.26 percent of Nigeria’s total export, and the government’s foreign exchange, 40.55 percent of government revenue, and provided 19,171 jobs,” Orji said.
Some industry operators have also called for the inclusion of advanced technologies in ramping up crude production.
Emeka Okwuosa, chairman/group chief executive officer at Oilserv Group, at the Nigeria International Pipeline Technology and Security Conference organised by the Energy and Corporate Africa and Pipelines Professionals Association of Nigeria in Abuja, said that Nigeria must include the use of advanced technology to secure crude oil pipelines across the nation, citing obsolete pipeline systems that lack latest monitoring technology for the constant attacks on the crude oil pipelines across the Niger Delta region.
According to him, these infrastructures are vital for economic growth.
“Security and employment concerns are significant, and monitoring over crude oil pipelines needs improvement.”
