Angola emerges top crude oil producer in Africa, overtakes Nigeria

Data from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC’s monthly oil market report (MOMR) for April 2023 has revealed that Angola produced 1.06 million barrels per day (BPD) of crude while Nigeria’s output dropped to 999,999 BPD during the period.

Nigeria’s oil production decline has been mainly caused by faulty production machinery and oil theft. This led to the steady drop noticed in the sector in H2, 2022 as production figures steadied at about 1.1 million BPD.

There was, however, a recovery in output figures as the FG became determined to arrest some of the issues raised by stakeholders in the industry. The proactive measures taken by the FG shot up production figures to about 1.3 million BPD in Q1, 2023.

The production figures for April which is less than 1.0 million BPD, is the lowest production rate Nigeria has recorded in the year 2023.

When compared with the output in march, there was a noticeable 23% drop as the output toppled from 1.3 million BPD produced in march, to the 999,999 BPD produced in April.

Also, when compared year-on-year, YoY, the output level in April 2023 witnessed a drop of 16.7%, when placed against the 1.2 million BPD recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.

The report also showed that the general average production capacity of OPEC-13 was 28.60 million BPD during the same period in review. The output by OPEC-13 was short by 191 thousand BPD month-on-month.

The report linked the shortfall in production to a decline in production output in Nigerian and a litigation challenge in Iraq.

For Iraq, it was noted that crude oil production dropped by 203,000 BPD in April 2023 while oil production figures for Nigeria declined by 170,000 barrels a day.