Nigeria Now Fourth Highest Crude Producer in Africa as Oil Rigs Count Declines by 35.5% Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The active oil rigs in Nigeria declined in September, amid a record low production of 938,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the
The active oil rigs in Nigeria declined in September, amid a record low production of 938,000 barrels per day for the month, about 35,000 bpd lower than the 972,000 bpd in August.
However, despite the remarkable recovery in global crude oil demand, Nigeria has been unable to ramp up production, following massive theft of the resource in the Niger Delta as well as shutdowns due to frequent equipment failure. A comparison of the country’s average oil production per day in 1997, as indicated in the last Nigerian National Petroleum Company ’s yearly statistical bulletin, showed that while Nigeria pumped 2.344 million barrels per day, plus condensates over two and a half decades ago, it can barely produce 45 per cent of that figure today.
Despite assurances by the various government agencies, what the OPEC figures imply is that rather than improve, the country’s oil production has actually deteriorated in the past months.