Nigeria inched closer to actualising her oil production output target of 1.8 million barrels per day with about 177, 000 bpd increase in production recorded in January.

“It is interesting to note that the January 2024 production is the highest since January 2022. This therefore is a good step towards meeting the 2024 budget target of 1.78 million bpd,” the Commission said.’

The NUPRC, in line with its statutory mandate and effort to ensure transparency and accountability, also last month released a three year Regulatory-Action-Plan (RAP) for Nigeria’s upstream Oil and Gas Sector which aims to raise oil, condensates output to 2.6 million bpd by 2026, adding that “the recent increase in oil production is a good indication that the Commission has commenced the implementation of the RAP in earnest and that the action is yielding result,” the statement said.

A trajectory of the country’s oil production output last year indicated that 41,867,775 bpd (excluding condensate) was achieved in October, but fell to 37,508,971 bpd in November In this period, the average price of Brent crude in November 2023 was $82.94 per barrel.

Previous data from the NUPRC showed that in January, February, March, April and May 2023, crude oil outputs (excluding condensates) were 39,266,420 barrels, 36,182,712 barrels, 39,268,847 barrels, 30,131,770 barrels and 36,869,280 barrels respectively.

In the months of June, July, August and September 2023, it recorded 37,827,842 bpd; 33,761,767 bpd; 36,615,125 bpd and 40,396,863 bpd respectively.

Source- The Nation Newspaper.