PENGASSAN strike, maintenance cause dip in Nigeria's September Oil output - NUPRC confirms

By Olakunle Oke

Nigeria’s total crude oil and condensate production experienced a decline in September 2025, falling to an average of 1.581 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

The September output comprised 1.39 million bpd of crude oil and 191,373 bpd of condensates.

The NUPRC attributed the drop in production primarily to a three-day industrial action orchestrated by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), which significantly disrupted operations across various production and export facilities.

Adding to the setback, the Commission noted that scheduled turnaround maintenance at two major facilities also contributed to the overall production decline.

On a month-on-month basis, output dropped by 3.09%, falling from 1.63 million bpd recorded in August to the 1.58 million bpd figure in September.

Despite the monthly setback, the oil and gas industry demonstrated incremental progress by recording a 1.61% year-on-year increase in total crude oil and condensate output, reaching 47.43 million barrels in September 2025.

This slight improvement contrasts positively with the 1.55 million bpd achieved during the same period in 2024.

The NUPRC data further showed that the country’s average crude oil production stood at 93% of its OPEC quota of 1.5 million bpd during the review month. Peak combined crude oil and condensate production reached 1.81 million bpd, while the lowest production level recorded was 1.35 million bpd.

An analysis of the top eight oil streams revealed that the Forcados Blend led production, accounting for 15.86% of the total, followed closely by Bonny Light at 13.31%. Qua Iboe ranked third at 9.88%, while Escravos Light contributed 8.96% of the total output for the month.