OpeOluwani Akintayo
10 November 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production was down by 70,000 per day in October, statistics from the ministry of petroleum has shown.
Production stood at 2.09 million barrels per day in October, down by 70, 000bpd due to constant attacks on pipelines by oil thieves.
In September, the country’s crude oil and condensate production was pegged at 2.158mbpd.
The NNPC’s latest monthly financial and operations report for July 2018 had disclosed that during the period under review, pipeline break stood at 204, of which 16 pipeline points either failed to be welded or ruptured/clamped.
It also indicated that 188 pipeline points were vandalized as against 165 recorded last month, with Ibadan-Mosimi accounting for 124 points or 66 percent of the vandalized pipeline, while Aba-Enugu, PHC-Aba, and other locations accounted for the rest.
A total of 1,858 vandalized points was recorded between July 2017 to July 2018.
The Corporation had warned earlier this month that sabotage attacks on oil pipelines were on the rise, while analysts have also warned that violence may return in Nigeria’s oil industry ahead of the general elections in February.
However, amidst the grim, with the production start-up of the Total-operated Egina oil field in December, Minister for State Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu said in an interview with S&P Global Platts earlier this week, that crude and condensate production is expected to rise to 2.2 million bpd by early next year.
“Hopefully, that should lift us closer to 2.15 million-2.2 million by the start of next year barring any unforeseen shutdowns,” Kachikwu said, adding that the country’s longer-term production goal is around 2.5 million bpd.
“I think you could see it creep up to 3 million b/d in the next eight to 10 years,” the minister told S&P Global Platts, dispelling reports of an imminent unrest in the Niger Delta ahead of the February 2019 election.
Nigeria’s crude oil production had leaped by 74,000 bpd in July to average 1.722 million bpd in August, according to OPEC’s secondary sources, further increasing by 26,000 bpd to 1.748 million bpd in September.
The country’s crude oil production had increased due to militants ceasefire in the Niger Delta.
As at last week, the International Monetary Fund, IF, predicted a growth by 1.9 percent in the country’s economy this year due to the ceasefire.
Loading schedules obtained from Reuters showed that Nigeria’s oil exports are expected to hit their highest level in six months in November, at 1.876 million bpd this month, up from 1.652 million bpd in October.