Nigeria has finally met the quota set for it by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a report by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has shown.
In January, Nigeria made real its focus on ramping up oil production, raising average daily crude output to 1,538,697 barrels. This is about 39,000 barrels above the 1.5mbpd set for the oil-producing country by OPEC.
Media reports that Nigeria failed to meet the crude oil production quota approved by OPEC throughout 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Although the Federal Government said it raised production from 1mbpd, it could not meet the OPEC quota in 2024.
However, the government started the new year on a good note with production surging from 1.4mbpd in December 2024 to 1.5mbpd in the first month of 2025.
According to the NUPRC, oil production, including crude and condensate, rose to 1.74mbpd in January, up from 1.6mbpd in December. However, this is below the 2mbpd target of the commission for the year.
The regulator’s data disclosed that the lowest and peak production in January were 1.66mbpd and 1.79mbpd respectively.
“The daily average production in January was 1,737,480 barrels per day, comprising of both crude oil (1,538,697bpd) and condensate (198.783bpd). The average crude oil production was 103 per cent of OPEC quota (1.5 mbpd),” the NUPRC stated.
For years, crude oil theft, and pipeline vandalism, among other factors, stopped the country from meeting various OPEC oil production quotas.
But the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed confidence that Nigeria could hit 3mbpd this year. He insisted that Nigeria would ramp up production by following the ’Drill, baby drill’ slogan of the United States President, Donald Trump.
Lokpobiri said the 3mbpd oil would include crude and condensates, adding that the country would raise production without having issues with OPEC.
“When we came, we barely did a million barrels. Today, we are doing 1.8mbpd and we can do more. And those who are responsible for this are more local. And that’s why I’m saying that look, we need to come together and continue on this trajectory. Let’s finish the journey that we have made together. From a million barrels, we have achieved an 80 per cent addition.
“I want to see how we can do 2.5 to three million barrels this year. And we can do it. I was talking to someone and the person told me that the bulk of what we produce is condensate. But because we are putting the condensate and the crude in the same container, oil is now branded crude oil. If we properly dedicate some reservoirs in our terminals for condensate and dedicate all that to crude oil, we will do three million barrels.
“So, we are not having any problem with OPEC. We will be able to meet our local domestic oil supply obligations and the companies can also meet their own foreign obligations,” Lokpobiri noted.
With the release of its regulatory action plan rolled out in the first week of January, the Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, affirmed that the commission is proactive and focused on ramping up oil production.
“You could see that, at least, we are witnessing a positive turnaround in the sense that our production has grown. We’ve recorded some level of growth at the moment, moving from about 1.4 million barrels per day to 1.75mbpd, including condensate,” Komolafe stated as he said the commission is targeting N15tn revenue this year.
