Nigeria is struggling to produce 1.21 million barrels per day in contrast to its 1.4 million barrels handed to it by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Group Chief Executive Officer of Oando Plc, Wale Tinubu, who disclosed this at the 2022 Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) conference and exhibition, said 20 per cent of the country’s oil production is also lost to oil theft.
Recall that the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, had stated one month ago that only 71 per cent of oil produced in Nigeria gets to the crude oil export terminals.
“There has been a 43 per cent reduction in our production from March 2020 to May 2022. We lose almost 20 percent of our daily crude production to oil thieves and pipeline vandals and 20,000 barrels a day of oil is lost to oil theft.
“Basically some three million barrels on average yearly is lost to oil theft and pipeline vandalism”.
“The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gave us a quota of 1.4 million barrels per day and we were struggling to do 1.21 million barrels per day.
“We will get to a quota of 1.8 million very soon because the OPEC agreement expires in September. They are easing production by 400,000 barrels per day.” Tinubu said, adding, “We are not meeting the quota and we will not be able to meet it by that September”
The losses recorded were majorly due to curtailed production within the period from nine terminals.
According to the head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, the country lost $1 billion in oil revenue to crude oil thieves in the first quarter of 2022.