The Nigeria’s Crude Oil production plunged by 2.3 million barrels in July 2022 when compared to what the country produced in the preceding month of June, data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries showed on Thursday.
In its latest Monthly Oil Market Report for August 2022, OPEC stated that crude oil production figures based on direct communication indicated that Nigeria’s output dropped by an average of 74,000 barrels per day in July.
This implies that for the 31 days in July, the country lost about 2.3 million barrels of crude oil. The organisation further stated that the average cost of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, during the month under review was $105.12/barrel.
By losing 2.3 million barrels in July this year, it means Nigeria’s oil earnings fell by about $241.1m or N101.13bn (at the official exchange rate of N419.37/$) in the month under review.
Data from OPEC showed that Nigeria’s oil production in June 2022 was 1.158 million barrels per day, but this dropped to 1.084 million barrels per day in July.
The country had produced 1.024 million barrels per day in May this year, according to figures released by OPEC on Thursday.
The Federal Government, operators, and experts have consistently fingered crude oil theft in the Niger Delta as the major reason for Nigeria’s poor output and its continued failure to meet the monthly oil production quota approved by OPEC.
The Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, blamed the challenges in the oil sector on the high level of insecurity across the country.
This, he said, had continued to discourage investors in the sector, leading to lower production of crude oil and lower earnings for Nigeria despite the increased cost of crude.
He said, “Investors in the oil and gas sector continue to lament the challenges posed by insecurity, oil theft, unstable policies, and inappropriate fiscal regimes.
“The downstream sector has continued to be weighed down by the pricing regimes and the regulatory environments which have continued to dim the growth prospects in the sector.”
Meanwhile, OPEC stated that crude oil prices dipped in July, as against their costs in June, adding that crude in OPEC Reference Basket fell by $9.17 or 7.8 per cent month-on-month in July to average $108.55/barrel.
“Oil futures prices remained highly volatile in July, amid a sharp drop in liquidity. The ICE Brent front month declined $12.38 or 10.5 percent in July to average $105.12/barrel and NYMEX WTI declined by $14.96 or 13.1 per cent to average $99.38/barrel,” the global oil cartel stated”
Crude oil theft: NNPC creates electronic centre to monitor, and track marine oil thieves
In a bid to stamp out the menace of crude oil theft, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it has established a monitoring platform to track all marine movements of vessels conveying stolen crude oil from the country.
The virtual platform would be wired to receive, collate and send information from concerned individuals and members of the public to alert the relevant security agencies about incidents of pipeline vandalism in the oil-producing areas.
Also, the platform would provide information that would help end-users of Nigerian crude oil internationally, particularly refiners and traders, validate that the blend of crude oil and other petroleum products they handle from Nigeria are from genuine sources.
The Group Chief Executive of NNPC, Mele Kyari, who disclosed this on Friday in Abuja said the new electronic platform could be accessed by the public through https://www.stopcrudetheft.com/.
He said this was part of the industry’s response to the challenge of sabotage of oil facilities by vandals stealing the country’s crude o…
