The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has said the increased crude production by Nigeria and Iraq inspired a boost in the overall crude oil production December 2023.
Oil production from the 12 members of the organisation, OPEC, averaged 26.70 million barrels per day (b/d) in December 2023, higher by 73 thousand barrels per day (tb/d) month-on-month, OPEC said in its Monthly Oil Market Report released Wednesday.
“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.70 mb/d in December 2023, higher by 73 tb/d, m-o-m,” it said.
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The report also noted that crude oil output production in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and IR Iran decreased in the same month.
Nigeria’s crude oil production rose to 1.41 million barrels per day in December, from 1.31 million bpd in November 2023, an OPEC survey, which cites secondary data sources, said.
However, according to the oil cartel’s direct communication data, Nigeria’s crude oil production rose to 1.33 million barrels per day in December from 1.25 million in November 2023.
OPEC indicated it gets its crude oil production figures mainly from two sources, either as direct communication by member countries or by information released by secondary energy intelligence platforms.
Nigeria’s December crude production was 100,000 barrels higher than its November production figure as the country continues to recover from a heavily disrupted crude sector plagued by oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
Over the years, crude theft and pipeline vandalism and its negative impact on the country’s economy have been a source of concern to the Nigerian government.
In a bid to curb crude theft, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) launched an application in August 2022 to monitor the incidence of theft and vandalism.
The NNPCL also awarded a multibillion naira pipeline surveillance procurement to a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, Government Ekpemupolo.
The Nigerian government had in October last year announced it is targeting 2 million barrels per day (bdp) of crude oil production by the end of the year.
