KEY POINTS

• Nigeria’s October oil output falls short of FG’s figure, says OPEC.
• Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria, faces reported discrepancies.
• New investments are what NCDMB is focused on to tackle energy security challenges.

Nigeria’s crude oil output, excluding condensate, stood at 1.434 million barrels per day (bpd) in October 2024, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reported.

That is far less than the Federal Government’s reported figure of 1.8 million bpd, which includes an estimated 250,000 bpd of condensate, for example, which translated into an adjusted crude oil rate of around 1.55 million bpd.

The variance in oil output data

OPEC made the clarification in its November 2024 Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) that its own data, aggregated from secondary sources, predicted a 0.6% increase in oil production in Nigeria compared to September.

The gap between OPEC and the US Federal Government’s figures, however, widened as direct source data placed output slightly lower at 1.333 million bpd.

OPEC said, however, that despite the discrepancy Nigeria remained Africa’s highest oil producer at 1.178Mbpd followed by Sudan which produce the lowest output of 28,000 bpd.

Production levels in Nigeria, Libya and Congo increased helping boost overall African output, OPEC reports.

Vandalism of pipelines and investment initiatives

Speaking at the just concluded Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) conference, the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Mr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, identified pipeline vandalism and oil theft as some of the vital threats to Nigeria’s energy security.

Securing investment in new projects needs to involve a buy in from host communities, he insisted.

The NCDMB is working towards a week a year schedule for signing of Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) on new projects anchored on the Presidential Directives of March 2024.”