Nigeria’s oil output rose by four per cent month-on-month, MoM, to 1.235 million barrels per day, mb/d in December 2022, from 1.186 mb/d in November 2022.
On Year-on-Year, YoY performance, the nation’s oil output also increased to 1.235 mb/d in December 2022, from 1.197 mb/d in the corresponding period of 2021.
This was disclosed by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its January 2023 Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR.
The report further showed that the nation succeeded in beating Angola, its close rival that produced 1.088 mb/d in December 2022, to become the leading African producer while Equatorial Guinea came last with 54,000 bp/d.
Despite the increase, the report indicated that Nigeria did not meet its 1.8 mb/d OPEC quota during the period even though the nation has the capacity to produce additional 300,000 – 400,000 bpd of condensate.
Meanwhile, the government has embarked on an aggressive exploration targeted at increasing Nigeria’s oil reserves to 40 billion barrels in 2025, from the current 37 billion barrels.
The target would be realised through the award of seven deep offshore oil blocks, PPL-300-DO, PPL-301-DO, PPL-302-DO, PPL-303-DO, PPL-304-DO, PPL-305-DO & PPL-306-DO, which has already been thrown open to prospective bidders.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who expressed such optimism for the success of the programme, said: “From North to South, East to West, our country is replete with rich hydrocarbon resources which the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Petroleum Resources is committed to finding and developing to end energy poverty, create shared prosperity and enthrone sustainable development.”
Similarly, the Chief Executive, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, also said: “The Mini Bid Round is a market-driven programme expected to outperform the last bid round which was held in April 2007 during which a total of 45 blocks were put on offer under a different regulatory regime (the Petroleum Act, 1969). In line with the provisions of the PIA, the Mini Bid Round will be managed by the NUPRC, supported by its National Data Repository (NDR) and multi-client partners underpinned by high-quality datasets. The blocks on offer have extensive 2D and 3D seismic data coverage, including multi-beam and analog data. Additionally, 3D Mega Survey Plus reprocessed Pre-stack Time Migration of remarkable quality is also available to prospective bidders.”
