OPEC, NUPRC give conflicting oil production figures

There are conflicting figures of crude oil production in Nigeria for the month of July as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), yesterday, pegged the country’s output at 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) against the 1.61 million bpd declared by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regularly Commission (NUPRC).

Although the figure from the two bodies had tallied in recent times, last month, the figures were over 300,000 bpd apart amidst tension over crude oil supply to local refineries.

This comes as OPEC cut global oil demand to 2.11 million barrels per day in 2024, against the initial growth projections of 2.25 million bpd expected last month.

Nigeria has been struggling with oil production as investment in the upstream segment of the industry plummeted amidst rapid divestment by international oil companies and pressure from climate change.

Of the 1.78 million bpd projected in the 2024 budget, the deficit has consistently hovered around 450,000 bpd, leaving the country in foreign exchange crisis and domestic crude oil obligation crisis.

According to OPEC monthly report for July, Nigeria’s production stood at 1.307 million bpd.

This is an increase of 30,000 bpd against the 300,000 bpd given by the NUPRC.

OPEC put Nigeria’s production at 1.276 million barrels daily in June 2024, stating that the data on Nigeria’s crude oil production was based on direct communication with Nigerian authorities.

On reduction in global oil output, OPEC said: “This slight revision reflects actual data received for the first quarter of 2024 and in some cases for the second quarter, as well as softening expectations for China’s oil demand growth in 2024,” OPEC said in the report.