Nigeria’s crude oil production rose the most in the month of March, rising to 1.6 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the month, according to a survey conducted by Reuters.
This increase was attributed to efforts made by the Federal Government to improve oil production infrastructure and reduce oil theft.
A breakdown of the report showed that Nigeria’s oil output for January was 1.25mbpd, 1.3mbpd for February, and about 1.6mbp in March.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) had disclosed that Nigeria’s oil production climbed to 1.6mbpd in January, while the country’s oil production had risen to 1.67 million barrels per day in February, slightly below the 1.8 million bpd quota allocated to Nigeria by OPEC.
However, data obtained from OPEC shows those numbers were exaggerated as it was only in March that crude oil production hit 1.6mbpd.
Meanwhile, a petroleum expert and publisher of Oil+Gas Report, Mr. Toyin Akinosho, has advised the incoming administration to prioritize the establishment of an independent and powerful regulator for the Nigerian oil and gas industry, especially the upstream subsector.
He noted that such a regulator must have the same kind of powers and independence as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to regulate the oil sector well without undue interference by external forces.
