Nigeria is seeing a surge in oil earnings following improvements in security in the Niger Delta region. According to figures obtained from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the country’s oil production rose by 1.014 million barrels per day in October, representing an increase of 0.077mbpd when compared to the 0.937mbpd output in September.
The data also indicates that in November, the country pumped 1.185mbpd crude, indicating an increase of 0.171mbpd when contrasted with the daily output in the preceding month of October. Furthermore, in December last year, oil production kept increasing as Nigeria produced 1.253mbpd last month, indicating an increase of 0.05mbpd when compared to its output in November.
In addition to the increase in oil production, international economic and statistical firms, Statistica and Country economy, have reported that in October, November and December 2022, the average cost of Brent, the global benchmark for crude, was $93.4/barrel, $89.62/barrel and $76.42/barrel respectively.
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These figures show that the country earned an additional $222.95m (N101.02bn, at the official exchange rate of N453.1$) in October last year, $459.75m (N208.31bn at the Central Bank of Nigeria official exchange rate of N453.1/$) in November, and $118.45m (N53.67bn at the official exchange rate of N453.1/$) in December.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), recently ordered security agencies to eradicate crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta before May 29, 2023. He said the order became vital in order to effectively ramp up the country’s oil output, stressing that the Federal Government could no longer tolerate the criminality.
With these efforts in place, the nation’s daily crude oil production has risen from about 900,000 barrels per day to about 1.5 million barrels per day. The enhanced output in oil production has increased the country’s revenue and has brought in an additional N363bn from oil sales within the three-month duration following the improvement in security in the Niger Delta region.
