OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Nigeria, in order to meet its Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, quota, boosted its crude oil production by over 200,000 barrels per day, b/d, in January.
Data obtained from OPEC’s February’s Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR, showed that the country’s output, which slid to around 1.1 million b/d last December, climbed to 1.3 million b/d in January.
Nigeria’s output ranged between 1.1 mb/d and 1.2mb/d the whole of last year.
The country had shut eight oil terminals between August and October, according to statistics from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Limited.
The affected eight terminals include Forcados, Bonny, Odudu, Brass, Yoho, Urha, Ajapa and Aje.
As a result, deferred/lost production in October alone was to the tune of 4,824,946 barrels of oil, the lowest among the figures posted during the three-month period.
The shut-ins and losses, according to the report, were due to pipeline vandalism, theft, community interferences, sabotage of oil facilities, among others.
Losses and deferment in August, September and October were put at 6,680,620 barrels; 6,362,700 barrels; and 4,824,946 barrels respectively.
It was also observed that eight crude oil terminals were affected in August, as production was curtailed at the facilities during the period.
The affected terminals in the reviewed month include Forcados, Sea Eagle, Brass, Yoho, Qua Iboe, Escravos, Ajapa and Otakikpo.
Explaining some of the incidents that curtailed production in one of the terminals, for instance, the NNPC said, “Energia (an oil firm) injection into Brass line (was) suspended due to pipeline damages.
“Pillar injection into Brass (was) suspended due to third party interferences on NAOC (Nigerian Agip Oil Company) Akiri pipeline.”
For the month of September, 18 incidents warranted deferment of 6,362,700 barrels of crude oil following production shut-ins recorded.
A total of nine terminals were affected in September, including Forcados, Sea Eagle, Brass, Yoho, Qua Iboe, Escravos, Urha, Ajapa and Otakikpo.
On some of the incidents that led to the crude oil losses in September, the NNPC stated that “production (was) curtailed due to pipeline outages” at the Forcados Terminal.
It also noted that “Energia injection into Brass line (was) suspended from September 1 to 30, 2021 due to pipeline damage”.
Findings from the NNPC reports of events that affected production in October 2021, however, showed that the incidents that led to crude oil production shut-ins, reduced to 11 during the month.
