By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria recorded a 120,000 barrels per day drop in crude oil production to 1.32 million barrels per day in April, a Bloomberg survey showed.
This is partly due to strike action by Exxon Mobil workers in the country, which led the American company to declare force majeure on its Nigerian oil liftings.
A force majeure absolves a company, in this case, Exxon Mobil, from liability in the event it cannot fulfil the terms of a contract or if attempting to do so will result in loss or damage of goods for reasons beyond its control.
This affected Nigeria’s plan to boost production to 1.6 million barrels per day to enable it to recover its long-time position as the largest African producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Following winning battles with oil theft, Nigeria saw its production increase by 3.5 per cent in February before it later sank 2 per cent in March to 1.517 million barrels per day.
Now in April, a dip of 120,000 barrels per day to 1.32 million barrels per day draws back the goal set by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which had been confident that its production would continue to increase as part of its long-term plan to increase production and grow its proven oil reserves to 50 billion barrels.
The country will be hoping to get its oil revenues up with a new administration set to take over later this month.
Meanwhile, OPEC’s crude oil production fell last month to a level not seen in nearly a year, the Bloomberg survey showed.
OPEC’s crude oil production fell 310,000 barrels per day in April to just 28.8 million barrels per day, the survey said.
The group had said at the end of March that it would cut production by another 1.6 million barrels per day starting in May, but much of April’s small decrease came in the form of unintentional production cuts.
Iraq’s decreased production for the month accounted for about 80 per cent of the group’s total production losses.
Iraq saw its crude oil production decline 250,000 barrels per day to 4.13 million barrels per day over a pipeline shutdown that runs from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to Turkey. That pipeline is responsible for carrying about half a million barrels per day.
OPEC+ members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Oman, Gabon, and Kazakhstan make up the ones that agreed to cut more production beginning this month.
OPEC+ is set to meet next on June 4, when it will discuss production levels for July 2023 and beyond.
Dipo Olowookere