Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped to 1.32 million barrels per day for the month of February 2024.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) disclosed this in its monthly oil market report (MOMR).
This is a drop of 104,000 barrels per day from the 1.42 million barrel daily production in the previous month.
OPEC said the figure for the month was based on direct communication from Nigeria to its authorities.
However, based on secondary sources, Nigeria recorded a daily crude oil production of 1.47 million barrels for February. This represents an increase of 47,000 barrels of oil per day.
Although crude oil production dropped for the month, Nigeria still retained its position as Africa’s biggest oil producer among the continental members of OPEC.
Libya is the second highest producer on the continent with production of 1.17 mb/d for the month, followed by Algeria which produced 906,000 barrels daily.
According to the report, the global oil production for 2024 from non-OPEC producers is expected to grow by 1.1 million barrels daily while that from OPEC countries is projected to grow by 64,000 barrels daily averaging around 5.5 million barrels for the year.
For February, oil production from OPEC countries increased by 203,000 barrels daily to reach around 26.5 million barrels daily for the month according to data from secondary sources.
It stated, “OPEC-12 crude oil production in February increased by 203 tb/d, m-o-m, averaging 26.57 mb/d, as reported by available secondary sources.”
Despite commitments to oil production cuts going forward, Saudi Arabia increased its oil production for the month by around 55,000 barrels daily. It also continued its unchallenged position as the largest oil producer in the world with around 9.01 million barrels daily.
In the month under review, oil prices rose by around $1.19, or 1.5% to an average of $81.23/barrel according to OPEC’s reference basket. Brent crude went up by 3.2% to average around $81.72/barrel while NYMEX WTI futures contract rose by $2.75 to average $76.61/barrel.
