Despite the federal government’s effort to shore up oil production output, the country’s oil output for the month of November fell to 37,508,971 barrels in November indicating a 10% decrease as the output dropped by 4,358,804 million barrels when compared with production figures in October.
According to oil production figures published by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, (NUPRC) 41,867,775 million barrels of crude (excluding condensates) was produced in October 2023.
The decrease represents a loss of about ₦289.6 billion in crude oil revenue compared to oil production figures obtained in October.
According to an international statistical firm, Country Economy, as of November 2023, the average price of Brent, the global benchmark for crude, stood at $82.94/barrel.
A loss of 4,358,804 barrels of crude in November, translated to a financial loss of about $361.52 million by Nigeria in the month under review.
Despite the low oil output, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, is confident that the country would meet the 1.7mbpd production benchmark in the 2024 budget.
When the figure is converted to Naira using the exchange rates figures from exchangerates.org (₦801/$ as of November 2023), Nigeria’s oil revenue in November crashed by about ₦289.6 billion.
Nigeria’s low oil output (recorded as OPEC’s biggest drop) led to a global drop in production as OPEC reported low oil output in November, the first monthly drop since July.
The report showed lower shipments by Nigeria and Iraq, as well as ongoing market-supporting cuts by Saudi Arabia and other members of the wider OPEC+ alliance, was responsible for the low oil yield recorded in the month in review.
OPEC countries pumped 27.81 mbpd in November indicating a 90,000bpd drop from October’s yield.