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Nigeria’s crude declines N1.23m bpd in August
By Rasaq Adebayo
Crude oil production in Nigeria dropped to 1.23 million barrels per day in August, a report from the Department of Petroleum Resources has said.
The 2021 crude oil and condensate production report from the DPR, which was made available to newsmen over the weekend, showed oil production between January and August.
In the report, Nigeria’s crude fell from an average of 1.36 million barrels per day in January to 1.23 million b/d in August, representing a nine per cent decline.
“For month-to-month, production of crude and condensate in August fell by 6.7 per cent from 1.64 million b/d in July.
“By implication, the development would affect the nation’s crude exports and foreign earnings as Brent crude stood at $71 per barrel last Thursday.
“In August, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria declared force majeure on Forcados crude oil.
“Forcados pipeline which exports an average of 240,000 barrels of crude oil daily is one of Nigeria’s main crude oil terminals”, the report explained.
According to the DPR report, crude oil production at Forcados terminal dropped consecutively since June which slumped from 5.7 million barrels in July to an average of 2 million barrels in August.
With the decline in oil production, Nigeria falls below the production cap under the OPEC+ deal at 1.596 million b/d for the month under review.
Director, DPR, Sarki Auwalu, had last Thursday, said optimisation of Nigeria’s oil production processes is crucial in the nation’s economic recovery drive.
Auwalu identified five pillars to its strategy for Maximum Economic Recovery for the industry, stressing that the objective of the strategy was to maximise the expected net value of economically recoverable petroleum from Nigeria’s acreages.
He listed items in the strategy to include reserves maturation, production optimisation, exploration and resources maturation, improved oil recovery and enhanced oil recovery implementation in the industry.
