Good times seem to be here again as Nigeria overtakes Angola as the top oil and gas producer in Africa, with an increased output of 91,500 barrels per day, bpd, in February 2018.
It will be recalled that Angola surpassed Nigeria with over 200,000 bpd since 2016 due to the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta, which led to a drastic drop in the country’s output.
In the second quarter of last year, Angola’s crude oil production was 1.635 bpd while Nigeria managed 1.485 million bpd. In the third quarter, Angola maintained her lead over Nigeria with 1.668 million bpd, while Nigeria’s output was 1.572 million bpd.
December 2017 became the game changer. Nigeria hit 1.569 million bpd while Angola produced 1.548 million bpd. The same overtake continued for the figures in January and February 2018.
However, data from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, show that total crude oil production by the group averaged 32.19 million bpd in February, a decrease of 77 thousand bpd over the previous month.
While production mainly decreased in Venezuela, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, and Iraq, this was partially offset by higher production in Nigeria and Angola.
The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, assured that the federal government would hit two million bpd of crude oil before the third quarter of this year.
