Nigeria losses spot as Africa’s top Crude Oil producer, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Nigeria is no longer the leading crude oil producer due to disruptions in production levels.
The EIA stated in its most recent report on ‘Country Analysis Brief Nigeria’ that Angola has surpassed Nigeria due to unanticipated production interruptions.
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According to the research, for many years, Nigeria produced more crude oil than any other country in Africa. Unplanned production outages or disruptions in Nigeria, on the other hand, have resulted in crude oil production dipping below that of Angola, Africa’s second-highest producing country.
Disruptions continue to be a substantial and persistent risk to Nigeria’s crude oil production.
The EIA went on to say that Angola’s production surpassed that of Nigeria in April.
The operators of the Trans Niger pipeline and the Forcados export terminal closed their facilities for repairs in the third quarter of 2022. Nigeria’s crude oil output fell sharply as a result of the closures, from 1.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in the second quarter to less than 1 million b/d in the third quarter.
By the beginning of 2023, Nigeria’s production had recovered, but the oil workers’ strike disrupted Crude Oil production once more in April 2023.
In April of this year, crude oil production in Nigeria fell to slightly more than 1 million b/d, falling below Angola’s production, which was estimated at 1.1 million b/d at the time, according to the research.
Angola produced 1.063 million barrels per day in April, according to data from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Nigeria, on the other hand, produced 999, 000 barrels per day.
The agency then highlighted efforts taken by the Nigerian government to make the country more appealing for investment in oil and natural gas.
The Petroleum Industry Act was passed in Nigeria on August 16, 2021. The legislation is the culmination of a 20-year effort to overhaul the legal framework of the hydrocarbon industry, attract investor interest in upstream development, and address grievances of communities affected by oil extraction, it added.
It outlined changes to Nigeria’s hydrocarbons legal framework, such as the formation of two distinct industry regulators, the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, restructuring the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (the national oil company), and lowering the tax and royalty structure for hydrocarbons for crude oil output, as well as changing upstream licensing and leasing arrangements.
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Despite legislative changes, oil theft and sabotage of export infrastructure remained severe issues, resulting in production losses and environmental damage.
Crude oil disruptions often force oil companies to shut down production and limit their ability to export crude oil, according to the EIA.
