Abuja — Nigeria expects oil production to significantly improve before the end of the next quarter due to stepped up security efforts in the Niger Delta by the government, the country’s national security adviser said on Thursday.
Oil production fell to less than 1 million barrels a day (bpd) in August, the lowest in years due to increased crude theft and vandalism of pipelines, forcing some companies to curtail or stop production.
But national security adviser Babagana Monguno told reporters that security agencies had stepped up efforts to improve the security situation in collaboration with other government ministries.
“We are hoping that before the end of the first quarter next year there will be a significant improvement in oil production,” he said without giving details.
Nigeria has an OPEC production quota of 1.8 million barrels per day but has been producing way below the target, missing out on an oil price boom this year.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe Editing by Mark Potter) – Reuters
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