FG battles oil theft, subsidy into New Year

Since the beginning of this year, the Federal Government has been battling fuel shortages and the vandalization of Nigeria’s crude oil. Okechukwu Nnodim writes.

Theft of crude oil, pipeline vandalism, and the continuous scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly referred to as gasoline, were the most significant difficulties facing Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in 2022.Information Guide Nigeria

Despite some good developments in Nigeria’s crude oil output over the past two months, the country’s oil production plummeted between January and September of this year due to widespread oil theft in the Niger Delta region.

In September, oil production plummeted to 937,780 barrels per day, the lowest level in previous years. The nation routinely fell short of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries-approved monthly oil production quota of 1,8 million barrels per day.

Nigeria has been a member of OPEC for many years, but the country’s low oil production prevented it from receiving millions of dollars per month. Despite the rise in global crude oil prices following Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine in February, this was the case.

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Between January and September, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s data revealed a monthly reduction in crude oil production.

In January 2022, Nigeria pumped 1.39 million barrels per day, but this decreased to 1.26mbpd in February and 1.24mbpd in March.

In April, the nation’s oil production continued its downward trend, falling to 1.22 million barrels per day. In May, it fell to 1.02mbpd, before rising significantly to 1.16mbpd in June.

In July, oil production plummeted to 1.08 million barrels per day (mbpd); in August, it fell to 0.97 million barrels per day (mbpd); and in September, it reached a record low of 0.94 million barrels per day (mbpd).

In October, the nation’s oil output increased modestly to 1.01 million barrels per day. Last month, crude oil production grew to 1.18 million barrels per day (mbpd), sustaining the growth.

The two successive increases in oil output were the result of heightened law enforcement actions and the deployment of a private pipelines surveillance business by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

“Our security agencies should pay great attention to the country’s oil production,” the President, Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, stated in his reaction to the development.

He told our correspondent that pipelines were national assets, adding that “our economy depends on the production of crude oil, regardless of what anybody is saying with respect to earnings from solid minerals, agriculture and other sectors.”

Gillis-Harry noted that “the size of dependence of our daily economic activities is almost equal to the petro-dollars which are produced from the Niger Delta.”