Minister Faults OPEC Data, Insists Nigeria Produces 1.7m Barrels Of Oil Daily

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has insisted that the country produced 1.7 million barrels of crude oil daily, including condensates in the past year.

Lokpobiri added that the figures presented by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) did not capture condensates.

The Minister made this disclosure during a keynote speech at an energy summit on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to him, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) traditionally provides the total volume of oil production in the country, and the data presented by the commission to the ministry is 1.7 million barrels as opposed to the 1.3 million barrels recorded by OPEC.

“As a ministry, one of the things we have decided to focus on is to ramp up production. Today, we are producing about 1.7 million barrels per day inclusive of condensates.

“I don’t want anybody to be confused. OPEC doesn’t calculate condensates which is why the OPEC quota for Nigeria is 1.5 million barrels.

“Our ambition is to ramp up production. It’s only when we ramp up production that midstream and downstream can succeed. When I became Minister one year ago, we were doing barely 1 million barrels per day of crude oil. But today, we are doing 1.7 million barrels. And NUPRC is here. They are the ones who traditionally give us the numbers. They are giving us approximately 1.7 million barrels inclusive of condensates,” Lokpobiri said.

Lokpobiri however emphasised the importance of Nigeria’s continued membership in OPEC, stating that the country has no plans to exit the organisation.

Instead, he said Nigeria aims to advocate for an increase in its production quota to approximately 2 to 3 million barrels per day.

He noted that he had advised Angola against leaving OPEC before its departure.