Nigeria lost $87.04 million as crude oil production dipped by 744,000 barrels in the month of March according to OPEC’s monthly report for April. The financial figure was arrived at when one multiplies the volume of crude oil dropped by $117 which was the average price of a barrel for Brent in the month of March
This amount contradicts the figure the chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe gave when he said that the country was losing $1 billion to crude oil theft in a month between January and March
The minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Slyva disclosed that the current production level of the country is 1.4million barrels and that the country would soon hit 1.7 million barrels per day in no distant future.
According to the minister, the country’s inability to meet its quota in OPEC has been because of the activities of oil theft and some technical issues. He said the country is losing a lot of its production and that the Buhari administration has decided that stopping this act would be one of the legacies it would leave behind.
In the same vein, the chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, said that the country loses about $1 billion a month because of the same issue of criminality.
“High level of criminality, oil theft and issues of host communities which have assumed such a horrific and tragic situation in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry are major factors responsible for lack of investment in the sector, “ he said.
According to the report, the country produced 1.413 million barrels of crude oil daily in January, this dropped to 1.378 million barrels per day in February and plunged further to 1.354 million barrels per day in March.
The situation affirmed concerns by both government officials and International Oil Companies operating in Nigeria that crude oil production in the country had been on the decline since 2021.
Some indigenous and International oil companies had stated recently that the massive oil theft across the country posed a threat to not just their existence, but to the Nigerian economy.
Mele Kyari, NNPC’s Group Managing Direction, recently announced that measurable outcomes against the massive crude oil theft in the Niger Delta would be visible in three weeks’ time.
According to him: “As we speak now there is a massive disruption to our operations as a result of the activities of vandals and criminals along our pipelines in the Niger Delta area.
“This has brought down our production to levels as low as we have never seen before. Today we are doing less than 1.5 million barrels per day simply because some criminals have decided that they should have some infractions on our pipelines.”
Nigeria’s oil production quota by OPEC has revolved around 1.8 million barrels per day. The country has repeatedly missed this target due to oil theft.
“And that clearly is the biggest form of business disruption that we are facing today,” the NNPC boss had stated.
He added, “This kind of engagement, the certifications that we have today around our systems and processes should be able to respond to this. And part of the response is to bring in the best framework possible to contain this situation.
“I’m happy to tell us that enormous work is going on between us and the Federal Government recognised security agencies, our partners, particularly those on the corridors that are impacted and also the community members.
“And I’m very optimistic that within the next two to three weeks some very measurable outcomes will come so that our businesses will continue. As we speak now, the Nigerian Navy is launching a massive operation to contain oil theft in the Niger Delta.”
Oluola Bello
