The production output from 13 out of Nigeria’s 29 crude oil terminals declined drastically between July and September 2022, according to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
The petering production output is ostensibly connected to heightened oil theft in the Niger Delta Region. A recent report by Nairametrics detailed the scale of the menace which has been described as an “existential threat” to the Nigerian oil industry.
According to the NUPRC data, the worst-hit crude terminals are Bonny, Brass, and Forcados, which saw production output decline by 79%, 40.5%, and 96.5% during the period under review.
Of the three terminals, Forcados terminal recorded the highest loss from over 3 million barrels in July to a little over 100, 000 barrels in September.
Similarly, crude oil output from Bonny was 799,294 in July before declining to 749,463 in August and then 167,582 in September.
For Brass terminal, the output was 290,227 in July, 270,932 in August and 172,814 in September. In the same vein, the production output from Forcados was 3,858,188 in July, 208,430 in August and 134,437 in September.
Crude oil theft in 2022
Earlier in January 2022, the Forcados terminal produced 7,508,980 barrels, Bonny produced 3,880,351 barrels, and Brass produced 1,369,363 barrels. Comparing these figures from January with the latest figures for September showed a huge disparity. And that has been blamed on crude oil theft.
- Crude oil theft has been an issue plaguing Nigeria’s oil and gas industry for decades. However, the rate of theft has increased significantly in the last few months.
- In October 2022, Umar I. Ajiya, the chief financial officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited said Nigeria loses $150 million a day from pipeline vandalism and sideline production.
- Data from NUPRC showed that crude oil production in September 2022 was at 937,766 barrels per day, compared to 1.2 million barrels per day recorded over the corresponding month in 2021.
Other terminals/streams
- Crude production from the Qua Iboe terminal for July 2022 was 4,811,149, 4,796,262 for August, and 4,976,836 for September.
- The Escravos crude oil terminal produced 3,697,075 for July (2022), 4,184,361 for August (2022), and 3,272,962 for September (2022).
- The Odudu (Amenam blend) terminal produced 2,272,260 for July (2022), 2,337,348 for August (2022) and 2,708,033 for September (2022).
- Bonga terminal shows 2,822,521 for July (2022), 3,134,311 for August (2022) and 3,192,789 for September (2022).
- Egina produced 3,875,580 barrels in July (2022), 3,484,854 in August (2022) and 3,316,063 for September (2022).
- Usan produced 1,426,818 barrels in July (2022), 1,420,202 in August (2022) and 1,274,147 in September (2022).
- Erha produced 2,123,907 in July (2022), 1,979,774 in August (2022) and 1,662,039 in September (2022).
- Yoho produced 1,067,443 barrels in July (2022), 970,559 in August (2022) and 867,274 in September (2022).
- The Tulja-Okwuibome terminal produced 1,190,108 in July (2022), 1,252,513 in August (2022) and 1,233,366 in September (2022).
Bottomline
- Of these 29 terminals/steam, 13 showed a decrease in crude oil production between July and September 2022 while 6 terminals showed nil data. Only 10 terminals showed an increase in crude oil production between July and September 2022.