Efforts by the Federal Government to raise oil production above two million barrels per day have suffered another setback. Daily oil production fell again in May, dropping from 1.68 million barrels per day in April to 1.65 million barrels per day last month.
According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), crude output fell from 1.48 million barrels per day in April to 1.45 million barrels per day in May. This drop came after production had previously gone up from 1.40mbpd in March to 1.48mbpd in April — a rise that seemed to bring hope for the country’s ambitious 2.1mbpd oil production target.
The May drop, however, has erased the gains made in April and raised doubts about whether the country can meet its two-million barrels per day production target in the near future.
NUPRC explained that the lowest combined crude oil and condensate production in May was 1.61mbpd, while the highest was 1.81mbpd. The average daily production for May stood at 1,657,435 barrels per day — made up of 1,452,941 barrels of crude oil and 204,493 barrels of condensate.
The commission added that the average crude oil production was 97 per cent of the quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is 1.5mbpd.
When President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the new board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) — led by Ahmadu Kida as chairman and Bayo Ojulari as Group Chief Executive Officer — he challenged them to raise oil production to 2mbpd by 2027 and 3mbpd by 2030. He also directed them to increase gas production to 8 billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion by 2030.
Furthermore, President Tinubu demanded NNPC raise its share of crude oil refining to 200,000 barrels per day by 2027 and 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
When inaugurated in May, NNPC’s GCEO Ojulari said the team had already started meeting industry stakeholders to reassess operations and relationships. He explained that the company was optimising its operations and carrying out turnaround maintenance at refineries.
He added, “We will promise what we can deliver, and we will deliver on our promises.” Ojulari also explained that production had gone up from 1.5mbpd to 1.7mbpd within two months and was expected to reach 1.9mbpd by the year’s end.
The source reports that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, repeatedly insisted Nigeria can produce 3mbpd. Nonetheless, in January 2025, daily production jumped from 1.4mbpd in December 2024 to 1.5mbpd.
NUPRC data shows production, including crude oil and condensate, rose to 1.74mbpd in January from 1.6mbpd in December. However, production fell again in February and has remained below the January peak.
