Nigeria Crude Oil Production Inches To 1.38mbpd In March—OPEC

Nigeria’s crude oil production rose marginally to 1.38 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The figure represents a 5.25 per cent increase from 1.31 million barrels a day output in February, OPEC’s monthly oil market report for March revealed on Monday.

According to the oil alliance, its production figures were derived from direct communication with Nigerian authorities.

The OPEC usually source its crude oil output data from two channels: direct communication from member countries and secondary sources such as energy intelligence platforms.

The latest figures show that Nigeria failed to meet its 1.5 million bpd production quota, falling short by about 117,000 bpd.

However, the global oil organisation said Nigeria sustained its position as Africa’s leading oil producer, surpassing Libya, which recorded an output of 1.30 million bpd.

The oil cartel said data from secondary sources placed Nigeria’s crude production at 1.46 million bpd in March — a 1.39 per cent increase from the 1.44 million bpd recorded in February.

Citing secondary sources, the OPEC said member nations’ total declaration of cooporation (DoC) crude oil production averaged “35.06 mb/d in March 2026, which is 7.70 mb/d lower, m-o-m”.

On April 4, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said daily crude oil production had increased to 1.84 million barrels per day (bpd).

However, four days after, Bashir Ojulari, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said the crude oil production increased to 1.71 million barrels a day.