Angola has now overtaken Nigeria as the leading crude oil producer in Africa. The Southern African nation upstaged Nigeria as the latter’s output level hits a new low.
The
development is contained in the direct communication data in the April 2023
monthly oil market report (MOMR) of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC).
According to
the report, Angola recorded 1.06 million barrels per day (mbpd) crude
production in April 2023.
Despite
initial optimism, Nigeria’s oil output dropped 23 per cent, month-on-month,
MoM, to 999,999 barrels per day, bpd, in April 2023, from 1.3 million bpd in
the preceding month of March 2023.
Also, on
year-on-year, YoY, Nigeria’s output level indicated a drop of 16.7 per cent to
999,999 bpd in April 2023, from 1.2 million bpd recorded in the corresponding
period of 2022.
After a
steady decline to about 1.1 mbpd in the second half of 2022, due majorly, to
oil theft, Nigeria’s oil output began to recover after a nationwide outcry in
the fourth quarter of 2022 hovering at 1.3 million bpd in the first quarter of
2023.
At less than
1.0mbpd, this is the lowest production rate Nigeria has recorded in the year
2023 while Angola’s output shows steady increases.
The OPEC
figure is close to that of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory
Commission (NUPRC), the regulatory authority in Nigeria’s petroleum industry,
which shows that Nigeria produced 998,602 barrels per day during the period.
The OPEC
report further stated that total OPEC-13 crude oil production averaged 28.60
million barrels per day in April 2023, lower by 191,000 barrels per day,
month-on-month. Overall, the report showed that crude oil output increased
mainly in Saudi Arabia, Angola and Iran, while production in Iraq and Nigeria
declined.
OPEC noted
in the MOMR that Nigeria’s economy faced challenges in gaining momentum in the
first quarter of 2023, with business activity and consumer spending remaining
subdued, in addition to high input-cost inflation and lower employment levels
compared with 2022.
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