Nigeria’s Oil Revenue Dropped by N500bn Last Month– Report

Nigeria has recorded a sum of N500 billion loss in its oil revenue last month due to low crude oil production.

Investors King reports that Nigeria’s total oil export in January was 37.2 million barrels instead of the projected 49.6 million barrels of oil if it had exported 1.6mb/d.

The report as contained in the shipping data of Refinitiv Eikon, an export tracking firm indicated that Nigeria exported 1.2mb/d instead of the 1.6mb/d quota given to it by the Organisation for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

It noted that with the current data, Nigeria’s oil production is yet to totally recover and attain its expectation.

Selling at $89 per barrel in January, Nigeria made N1.5 trillion from its oil exportation which is less than OPEC’s target of 2 trillion. This makes the country at a loss of N500 billion as it didn’t meet up OPEC’s 1.6mb/d target.

However, the Refinitiv Eikon revealed that several other countries aside Nigeria failed to meet up OPEC’s production quota. Countries like Iraqi, Saudi Arabia and Iran had declined.

Investors King recalls that in November, OPEC had pegged a 2 million barrel per day cut to the OPEC+ output target. In its expectation, 1.27 million barrels per day ought to be disbursed by 10 participating OPEC members.

The statistics showed that the 10 OPEC countries produced 920,000 barrels of oil per day below the stipulated target for the month of January. Meanwhile, the decrease in December was marked as 780,000 bpd.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, had said the issue of oil theft and vandalism which has eaten deep into the sector is a major cause of Nigeria’s low production. 

He noted that the country loses 900,000 barrels per day to theft which must be urgently looked into for increased output in the oil sector.