According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria has reclaimed its status as the continent's top producer of crude oil for the month of May 2023.
A report by Nigeria’s Nairametrics, a business publication, shows that during the month, Nigeria produced 1.184 million barrels of crude oil per day, according to OPEC direct communication statistics. In contrast, Angola, Libya, and Algeria each produced 1.111 million barrels per day, 1.158 million barrels per day, and 962,000 barrels per day, respectively.
The OPEC report also emphasized Nigeria's economic development, noting that in the first quarter of 2023, the nation's economy grew by 2.4% year over year. The study, however, blamed a variety of reasons, including a fall in crude oil output, for the poor rise.
It should be mentioned that Nigeria's crude oil production fell for the first time in April 2023, with OPEC reporting a daily output of 999,000 barrels. Nigeria's economy is struggling with issues including rising inflation, import restrictions, and weak corporate and consumer spending in addition to the seemingly dwindling oil output.
The annual rate of inflation in April 2023 was 22.2%, which indicates further acceleration when compared to the 22% rate in March 2023. These elements, together with a downturn in the services, industrial, and agricultural sectors, add to Nigeria's economic woes.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) reported that in May 2023, the nation produced 1.4 million barrels per day of crude oil.
Nigeria produced 1,427,616 barrels of crude oil per day, according to information just recently made public by the Commission on Crude Oil Production. Following is a breakdown of the data: Crude oil: 1,183,691 barrels per day, Blended condensates: 65,887 barrels per day, and Unblended condensates: 178,038 barrels per day.
Condensates are added, adding up to 1.4 million barrels per day. Recall that on June 1, Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited Mele Kyari stated that condensates should be considered liquids in addition to crude oil when discussing the importance of condensate production to the nation's overall production output.