An analysis of the latest crude oil production figures, sourced from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission in Abuja on Sunday, revealed that Nigeria produced 41,867,775 million barrels of crude (excluding condensates) in October.
However, this figure plummeted to 37,508,971 barrels in November, marking a significant decline of 4,358,804 million barrels compared to the production in October.
The average price of Brent, the global crude benchmark, stood at $82.94/barrel in November 2023, as reported by Country Economy, an international statistical firm.
Considering the loss of 4,358,804 million barrels of crude in November, the calculated value of the oil lost by Nigeria during that month amounted to approximately $361.52 million.
A global rates firm, exchangerates.org, stated that the average exchange rate of the naira against the United States dollar in November was N801/$. This implies that Nigeria’s oil revenue in November crashed by about N289.6bn.
Meanwhile, further analysis of the NUPRC report showed that in January, February, March, April and May 2023, Nigeria’s crude oil outputs (excluding condensates) were 39,266,420 million barrels, 36,182,712 million barrels, 39,268,847 million barrels, 30,131,770 million barrels and 36,869,280 million barrels respectively.
For the months of June, July, August, and September 2023, the country pumped "37,827,842 million barrels," "33,761,767 million barrels," "36,615,125 million barrels," and "40,396,863 million barrels," respectively.
Despite the crash in oil output, the Federal Government maintained that Nigeria would "meet and surpass" the 2024 crude oil budget benchmark of "1.7 million barrels per barrel."
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, reiterated on Tuesday that the country would "meet" its oil production benchmark in the 2024 budget of "1.7mbpd."
Lokpobiri also asserted that the country has the capacity to "increase" crude oil production to "two million barrels per day."
