Oil production: Nigeria targets 2m barrels per day by December 31 — NNPCL

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, said it is working closely with relevant stakeholders to boost crude oil production to over two million barrels per day, bpd, by the end of 2024.

NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, made this known in a statement on Monday while debunking reports on production disparity figures supplied by the company and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Company, NUPRC.

There were reports earlier alleging that the 1.54 million bpd for September cited by NUPRC was far below the 1.8 million bpd for November cited by NNPCL.

However, Soneye said there was no disparity between production given by both stakeholders.

The statement further explained that the seeming disparity is a result of the difference in the period of coverage in the reports—whereas the NNPCL figure was the peak production for October 2024, the NUPRC figure was the average production for September 2024.

“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has clarified that there is no discrepancy between its crude oil production figures and those supplied by the regulatory agency, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Company (NUPRC),” the statement read in part.

According to the statement, the Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, confirmed this at the recent 42nd Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists Annual International Conference & Exhibition in Lagos, where he disclosed that Nigeria’s crude oil output, including condensate, increased by 16.56 per cent to 1.8m bpd in October 2024, from 1.54 million bpd in September 2024.

Represented by the Executive Commissioner, Development & Production, Enorense Amadasu, the CEO of NUPRC was quoted as saying: “This represents an increase of 253,710 bpd to reach 1.8 million bpd in October, up from 1.54 million bpd in September 2024, representing 16.56 per cent month-on-month rise.

NUPRC also confirmed at the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists event that the 1.8m bpd feat pushed Nigeria’s production beyond the 1.5m bpd quota of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

“There is, therefore, no disparity or discrepancy in the production figures by NNPCL and the regulator,” the statement added.