The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, announced yesterday that Nigeria’s oil production, excluding condensate, grew by 15.6% to 1.3 million barrels per day, or mb/d, in May from 1.1 mb/d reported in the preceding month of April 2023.
The organization indicated that the amount was based on data it got from secondary sources in its June 2023 Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR, which Vanguard was able to secure.
The most recent record shows that Nigeria is now Africa’s top producer, surpassing Angola, whose output was at 1.1 mb/d, while Equatorial Guinea is now the continent’s lowest producer with 56,000 bpd.
The report showed that the nation continues to fall far short of the 1.8 million daily output quota that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed to it. Oil production has been hampered by persistent insecurity, pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger Delta region. The latest data comes amid growing debate over how accurate the oil production measurement system is in the country.