Again, Nigeria fails to meet OPEC quota as crude production falls to 1.32mbpd in February

For the second consecutive month, Nigeria failed to meet its monthly crude production quota of 1.5mbpd as stipulated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as the country’s crude oil production dropped to 1.32mbpd from the 1.42mbpd recorded in January 2024.

This represents a decline of 104,000 bpd in the country’s crude production.

This development was announced in the Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) of the oil cartel.

Ripples Nigeria reports that Nigeria proposed an audacious daily crude oil production of 1.78 million barrels in its 2024 budget while OPEC pegged its production at 1.5 million barrels per day.

In January, the country was unable to meet neither its target nor OPEC’s quota as it could only produce 1.42mbpd. The figure fell to 1.32mbpd in February as the country continued to grapple with the menace of crude oil theft.

Earlier this week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to help tackle the menace of crude oil theft in the country.

READ ALSO:Nigeria’s crude oil production rose to 1.4mb/d in December — OPEC

However, despite the decline in crude oil production, Nigeria still retained its position as Africa’s biggest oil producer among the continental members of OPEC.

Nigeria’s closest rival on the continent was Libya whose oil production for the month stood at 1.17 mb/d followed by Algeria which did 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.

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.

By: Babajide Okeowo

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