The Chief Upstream Investment Officer at the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS), Bala Wunti, has claimed that Nigeria’s oil production as of December 6 is 1.59 million barrels per day.
He disclosed this on Tuesday, December 6, at the ongoing 11th Practical Nigerian Content forum in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state.
Wunti said that due to government intervention, the country’s oil production output had increased amid the oil theft crisis. He added that the government is resolving the issues using three strategies which are; detect, deter, and respond appropriately. He stated:
- “We have security agencies in which the Navy, the police, and everyone within that space were involved. The second is the regulators’ angle. At this stage, all regulators are made to fully be part of the efforts.
- The third is the operators’ angle. And, of course, all operators were involved. The fourth angle is the community angle in which all impacted communities have to be brought under the umbrella of a structured arrangement in the collective effort against crude oil theft.
- As of today, oil production is at 1.59 million barrels per day.”
Not backed by data: There is no data reflecting Wunti’s statement yet. However, in the course of the month, data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) as well as the monthly oil market report (MOMR) from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will show figures from the country’s oil production output.
- It is instructive to note, however, that Nigeria’s crude oil production output as of October 2022 was 1,014,485 barrels per day, according to data from the NUPRC. The output for October was the first time Nigeria averaged over 1 million barrels per day since July 2022, which was at 1,083,899 barrels per day.
Regarding crude oil theft: Nairametrics earlier reported that on Tuesday, December 6, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno, warned that the Federal Government may lose an estimated $23 billion in 2023 if the crude oil theft persists in the country.
- He said this while inaugurating a special 11-man investigation panel to check crude oil theft in the country.
- However, as of 2015, a Chatham House report cited in this study, estimated the total annual cost of stolen crude oil to be between $3 billion to $8 billion, depending on estimates and circumstances. This shows that there are more crude oil theft culprits now than there were in 2015.
Crude oil theft impact on revenue in recent past: In October 2022, the minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva told attendees of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) graduation ceremony that Nigeria loses at least 700,000 barrels of crude oil to theft daily. He said:
“Oil theft has denied the country an estimated 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The adverse effect of this is the drop in the production of crude oil and decline in the national income.”
- In October 2022, Umar I. Ajiya, the chief financial officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited said that Nigeria loses $150 million in revenue every other day from pipeline vandalism and sideline production.
- A November 2022 policy paper authored by Nigerian economist, Kingsley Moghalu stated that if crude oil theft leakages are plugged, Nigeria can afford a social security bill of N1.8 trillion per year.
- According to Moghalu, crude oil theft is estimated to cost Nigeria about $700 million per month or $8.4 billion per annum.
- An oil and gas industry report from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) showed that Nigeria lost 272 million barrels to theft and sabotage between 2016 and 2020.
In case you missed it: On April 7, 2022, during a session of the Upstream Petroleum Committee at the House of Representatives, the NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD) Mele Kyari told committee members that Nigeria lost $4 billion to crude oil theft at the rate of 200,000 barrels per day in 2021. Kyari also pointed out that as of Q1/2022, Nigeria had already lost $1.5 billion to crude oil theft.
