Nigeria has started exporting around 220,000 barrels of crude oil each day from the Forcados terminal. The terminal was closed for maintenance on July 12, 2023, because workers noticed some “fumes” near a spot where oil was being loaded onto a ship.
This situation partially caused Nigeria not to meet its set quota from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) during that time. With the Forcados terminal reopening, the nation’s total oil production, which fell by 13.6%, could see an improvement. In July 2023, daily production averaged 1.08 million barrels, a drop from the 1.25 million barrels recorded in June.
The latest report from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for August 2023 reveals that this decline is concerning for the government, which aimed to produce 1.69 million barrels daily according to the 2023 budget. Additionally, the current production is lower than the 1.7 million barrels per day quota allotted by OPEC.
Examining the data released by NUPRC, it’s clear that blended and unblended condensate oil production in July was 38,258 barrels and 174,509 barrels respectively. However, these numbers are not part of Nigeria’s OPEC production requirement.
Overall, the average daily oil production in July was 1.29 million barrels, marking a 12.8% decrease compared to the total daily average of 1.48 million barrels in June.
NNPC Limited has expressed optimism, expecting oil production to reach 1.8 million barrels per day by the fourth quarter of this year due to implemented measures aimed at boosting production yielding results.
