In its monthly oil market report released on Tuesday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), says Nigeria’s crude oil production for August declined to 972 thousand barrels per day (t/bpd).
It represents a 112 thousand barrels per day drop when compared to 1.084 million barrels per day for the month of July 2022.
Total crude oil production from OPEC members averaged 29.65 million barrels per day in August 2022, higher by 618 thousand barrels per day, month-on-month. Crude oil output increased mainly in Libya and Saudi Arabia, while production in Nigeria declined.
Economies of OPEC member countries like Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates observed an upward trend, largely due to supportive economic policies, large-scale energy investments and gains made from higher energy prices.
OPEC Says Nigeria’s Oil Production Averaged 972,000 bpd In August 2022
Global oil demand
OPEC projected that the global oil demand was expected to grow by 3.1 million barrels per day in 2022 and by 2.7 million barrels per day in 2023.
According to the report, global economic growth forecast for both 2022 and 2023 remained unchanged at 3.1%, which matches the average pre-pandemic growth level of around 3.1% between 2009 and 2019.
OPEC says that the demand for its crude in 2022 remained unchanged from the August monthly report, to stand at 28.9 million barrels per day, which is around 0.9 million barrels per day higher than in 2021. Demand for OPEC crude in 2023 remained unchanged from the August monthly report to stand at 29.8 mb/d, which is around 0.9 mb/d higher than in 2022.
Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited has recently said that Nigeria is losing 95% of oil output to criminals at oil hub Bonny, and Nigeria can only secure 3,000 barrels out of 239,000 barrels injected into the pipeline from Bonny Terminal.
Oil and Gas Analyst, Ifeanyi Uzeze attributes Nigeria’s declining crude oil production even in the midst of higher oil prices to oil theft.
He says that the only way Nigeria can get back to normal production is by checking the magnitude of crude oil theft from our offshore facilities.
