Nigeria’s crude oil production fell by four per cent in July, even as the country continued to pump above its OPEC quota for a third straight month, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the commission said the country produced an average of 1.505 million barrels per day (mbpd) of crude oil in July, exceeding its OPEC quota of 1.5mbpd. An additional 0.17mbpd of condensate brought total average daily output of crude oil and condensate to 1.67mbpd.
The figure marked a decline from June, when Nigeria produced an average of 1.53 million barrels per day of crude oil. Combined with condensate output of 170,446 barrels per day that month, June’s total average hydrocarbon production stood at 1.7 million bpd.
The NUPRC attributed the drop to operational setbacks at the Erha and Akpo fields.
“These disruptions constrained production volumes and contributed significantly to the overall reduction in national crude oil output,” the commission said.
Even so, combined daily production of crude oil and condensate peaked at 1.78mbpd during July, with the lowest daily output recorded at 1.57mbpd.
A terminal-by-terminal breakdown showed Forcados leading with an average of 322.34 thousand barrels per day (kbpd), followed by Bonny at 303.72kbpd and Qua Iboe at 158.02kbpd. Escravos recorded 131.41kbpd, while Bonga rounded out the top five with 100.23kbpd.
The commission said production across other assets remained relatively stable despite the disruptions, noting that operators had taken steps to sustain efficiency and that routine crude evacuation activities continued largely unaffected.
“Industry stakeholders remained focused on resolving the identified operational challenges, restoring affected production capacity and improving asset reliability,” the NUPRC said, adding that July’s performance underscored the need for proactive asset management and operational resilience across Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
