A recent report has shown that a low crude oil output in January has cost Nigeria a total of N500 billion in missed income.
Shipping information from the company Refinitiv Eikon, which monitors export flows, revealed that the country's production has not yet fully recovered as it only exported 1.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) as opposed to the 1.6 million b/d quotas allotted to it by the Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
This report is based on the findings of the Punch NG, a news agency in Nigeria. According to this report, an export of 1.2mb/d brings January’s total export to 37.2 million barrels, against 49.6 million expected if it had exported 1.6mb/d.
Nigeria was hardly the only country to experience a shortcoming in OPEC’s production quota, however, these figures are discouraging for a country that has long held the position of Africa’s top oil producer.
In the period under review, Nigeria was prime to rake in N1.5tn from the production of 37. 2 million barrels exported, as against a projected N2tn revenue if it had met OPEC’s quota. Due to the situation, Nigeria lost roughly N500 billion since it didn't reach the 1.6 million barrels per day OPEC limit.
This decline in Nigeria’s oil production output has been a consistent issue since 2022, owing to the destruction of oil infrastructure and theft. This is according to the Group Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, who has been making this issue public since last year.
The Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPCL Upstream Investment Management Services, Bala Wunti, also made mention of the same issue, further noting that the complications being brought about by theft are having a ripple effect on the Nigerian economy at large, seeing as oil export is Nigeria’s primary source of income.
“Crude theft affects all architecture that funds the country. When the oil theft reached its peak, everything including gas production was affected,” he said.
This is also an issue, owing to the fact that there is a global market gap in the oil market that Africa can take advantage of. This is evident by the fact that some of the biggest oil cooperation are beginning to set up shops in different regions of the continent.
Should Nigeria be able to fix its oil theft issue soon, it would be a key player in filling the market gap globally in the oil sector.
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