Nigeria loses position as Africa’s biggest oil producer as production drops to 1.23m bpd in March – OPEC

In 2024, Nigeria’s daily crude oil production continued its steady decline, dropping to 1.23 million barrels per day in March 2024, according to the latest data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This decline has caused Nigeria to lose its position as the top oil producer in…

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This drop represents a significant deviation from Nigeria’s 2024 budget oil production benchmark of 1.78 million barrels per day and is also well below the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) projection of 2.6 million barrels per day by 2026.

Nigeria’s reduced crude oil production in 2024 can be attributed to various challenges, including oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and insufficient investment in the oil sector. The data indicates a consistent decline in Nigeria’s output since the beginning of the year, starting from 1.42 million barrels per day in January, decreasing further to 1.32 million barrels per day in February before reaching 1.23 million barrels per day in March.

As a result of this decline, Nigeria has relinquished its position as Africa’s largest oil producer to Libya, which produced 1.24 million barrels per day in the month under review. Algeria emerged as the third-largest oil producer with 907,000 barrels per day during the period.

OPEC gathers production data from two main sources: direct communication with member countries and secondary sources such as energy intelligence platforms.

According to OPEC’s secondary sources, Nigeria’s crude production stood at 1.398 million barrels per day, indicating a 5.28 percent decrease from the 1.476 million barrels per day reported by the oil alliance in February.

“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.60 mb/d in March 2024, 3 tb/d higher, m-o-m” the statement reads.

“Crude oil output increased mainly in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Gabon and Kuwait, while production in Nigeria, Iraq and Venezuela decreased.”