The Minister of State for Petroleum resources ( Oil) Senator Heneiken Lokpobiri has disclosed that for the first time in 2023, Oil Production moved to 1. 7 million per barrel
This represents 30.8 per cent increase of 1.3 million bpd produced in the month of September,.
Lokpobiri, who made this known at a media briefing on Friday, October 13, said the government’s agenda was to increase crude oil production, which would scale up revenue for the country expressing optimism that the production of crude oil will increase to 2 million barrels per day by December.
According to the Minister,“Nigeria is very dependent on oil; even our budget is always predicated on how many barrels of oil we produce. Although the non-oil sector is thriving, for us to solve our problems, we need to earn enough forex.
“And a substantial part of our forex comes from the oil sector. So my ambition is to see how I can lead the sector to increase production and how we can get more revenue to be able to fund strategic national projects.”
Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) revealed that the country pumped its highest volume of crude oil in October.
A breakdown of the sheet is as follows;
Month Oil production (bpd)
January 1.3 million
February 1.3 million
March 1.3 million
April 1.0 million
May 1.2 million
June 1.3 million
July 1.1 million
August 1.2 million
September 1.3 million
October 1.7 million
However, despite this output increase, the country is yet to meet the production threshold of 1.8 million bpd set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
In an agreement signed with OPEC, Nigeria’s expected oil output is between 1.826 million bpd to 1.747 million bpd from August to November, while from January to December 2024, it is expected to reduce its production quota to 1.380 million bpd.
Similarly, data from the National Bureau of Statistics Gross Domestic Product report showed that the real growth of the oil sector was 13.43 per cent (year-on-year) as of the second quarter of 2023.
The foregoing development shows that the oil sector contributed 5.34 per cent to the total real GDP in Q2 2023, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and down from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 6.33 per cent and 6.21 per cent, respectively.
