Nigeria’s government is urging the oil companies operating in the country to collaborate to increase oil output in the producer that hasn’t been able to pump to its OPEC quota for years.
Nigeria’s crude oil production averaged 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of the year, well below the 1.8 million bpd quota in OPEC, Ekperikpe Ekpo, Nigerian Minister of State for Gas, said at a local industry conference.
“Production growth…hinges on optimising our existing resources and exploring new frontiers,” Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), said at the event.
Oil theft and pipeline vandalism have long plagued Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas industry, driving majors out of the biggest OPEC producer in Africa and often resulting in force majeure at the key crude oil export terminals.
The top African oil-producing country has consistently failed to pump to its OPEC+ quota due to oil theft and vandalism and struggles to launch new projects.
Nigerian authorities have been clamping down on oil theft and have been supportive of an increase in oil and gas output in recent months.
NUPRC said earlier this month that U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil plans to invest as much as $1.5 billion in deepwater oil and gas exploration and development offshore Nigeria.
The government’s call on Nigeria to boost oil production comes just as reports emerge that the OPEC+ producers that are withholding supply are discussing another large hike in output for July.
Another 411,000-bpd production hike is among the options that the OPEC+ member countries are discussing for the July production, unnamed delegates from the group told Bloomberg News on Thursday.
OPEC+ has already announced two consecutive production increases for May and June, each of 411,000 barrels per day, triple the volume the group had previously planned.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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