Nigeria’s Oil Production Rises To 1.35 Million bpd
Oil output from Nigerian tanks have risen to eight months high of 1.35 million barrels per day (BPD), lifting the total production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in December.
This is coming as the African giant continues to crack down on oil theft.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries boosted supplies by 150,000 barrels a day, with the West African nation effectively providing the entire gain, according to a Bloomberg survey. Total group output was 29.14 million barrels a day.
OPEC oil output rose in December led by a recovery in Nigerian supply from outages, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday, despite an agreement by the wider OPEC+ alliance to cut production to support the market.
OPEC pumped 29.0 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, the survey found, up 120,000 bpd from November. In September, OPEC output had been the highest since 2020.
Nigeria has been battling for months with crude theft and insecurity in its oil-producing region, hitting output. Many Nigerian crude streams produced more in December, sources in the survey said, with some companies citing improving security.
Nigerian output rose by 170,000 bpd, biggest gain in group.
OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, had been boosting output for most of 2022 as demand recovered. For November, with oil prices weakening, the group made its largest cut since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Their decision from November called for a 2 million bpd cut in the OPEC+ output target, of which about 1.27 million bpd was meant to come from the 10 participating OPEC countries. The same target applied in December.
With the rebound in Nigerian output in December, compliance with the agreement weakened slightly to 161% of pledged cuts, according to the survey, from 163% in November.
