AFRICA ( Commonwealth Union) _ According to the April 2023 monthly oil market report (MOMR) which was published by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has announced that Angola has surpassed Nigeria as the top crude oil producer in Africa.
In April 2023, Angola recorded a noticeable crude oil production of 1.06 million barrels per day (mbpd), while Nigeria’s output dropped by 23% to 999,999 barrels per day (bpd) during the same period.
On the other hand , Nigeria’s oil production had been recovering after a decline in the second half of 2022, but it experienced a significant drop in April 2023. The decline can be attributed to various factors, including issues such as oil theft. Conversely, Angola has shown consistent increases in its oil output, leading to its position as the top crude oil producer in Africa.
However, the figures reported by OPEC are in line with data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which indicates that Nigeria produced 998,602 barrels per day during the same period.
The OPEC report also highlighted that the overall crude oil production of the OPEC-13 countries averaged 28.60 million barrels per day in April 2023, showing a decrease of 191,000 barrels per day compared to the previous month. While countries like Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Iran experienced an increase in crude oil output, Iraq and Nigeria faced a decline.
Additionally, the OPEC report mentioned that Nigeria’s economy faced several challenges in the first quarter of 2023, including subdued business activity, consumer spending, high input-cost inflation, and lower employment levels compared to the previous year. Therefore , it is assumed that these factors may have contributed to the decline in Nigeria’s crude oil production during the same period.
