Nigeria reclaims top spot as Africa’s largest crude oil producer in May 2023

By Ibiyemi Mathew

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has revealed that Nigeria has emerged as Africa’s top African crude oil producer.

Nigeria reclaimed its position from Angola producing 1.184 million barrels of crude oil per day during the month, according to direct communication data provided by OPEC.

This tallies with data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) indicating that the country produced 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil in May 2023.

According to the Commission, Nigeria produced 1,183,691 barrels per day, blended condensates: of 65,887 barrels per day and unblended condensates of 178,038 barrels per day.

In comparison, Libya produced 1.158 million barrels per day, Angola produced 1.111 million barrels per day, and Algeria produced 962,000 barrels per day.

The OPEC report also highlighted Nigeria’s economic growth, stating that the country’s economy expanded by 2.4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023. However, the report attributed the slow growth to various factors, including a decline in crude oil output.

Nigeria experienced its first decline in crude oil production in April 2023 with OPEC reporting a daily output of 999,000 barrels.