NNPC says oil output up to 2.1 mln bpd

Oil production has risen to 2.1 million barrels a day, the managing director of state oil firm NNPC said on Tuesday, without giving an explanation for the increase.

“We are hoping that by the end of 2017 we should ramp up production to above 2.2 million barrels (per day),” Maikanti Baru told an oil conference in Abuja.

According to Reuters, Nigeria has given differing figures for its oil output in recent weeks.

Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun was quoted to have said on Thursday, that production was 2.2 million bpd, without giving an explanation. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had put output at between 1.7 million bpd and 1.8 million bpd last month.

It said markets have been surprised by the reported rise because a major export pipeline carrying nearly 250,000 bpd, Forcados in the restive Niger Delta, has only been open for three weeks of the past year due to militant attacks.

“There has been no sign of the pipeline resuming operation”.

According to a Reuters survey Nigeria’s output was around 1.57 million bpd in January.

There have been no recent militant attacks on pipelines in the Delta since Osinbajo has visited the southern region to calm tensions and broker a peace agreement.

The government has been holding talks with militants to end attacks on crude pipelines, which reduced Nigeria’s output by 700,000 barrels a day for several months last year.

President Muhammadu Buhari met Niger Delta leaders and representatives for the militants in November to discuss their demands. They say they want a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth to go to the impoverished region.

Baru also said Nigeria wanted to boost oil output by 2020 to 3 million bpd and crude reserves to 40 million barrels in the same time frame, up from 37 million barrels.

Nigeria’s April crude oil exports are on track to drop by just over 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April from the previous month, according to loading programmes compiled by Reuters on Tuesday.

The exports of 1.54 million bpd, on 50 cargoes, are down from a revised March programme that included 1.65 million bpd on 56 cargoes. The biggest month-on-month decline was in Qua Iboe, Nigeria’s largest oil stream.

Qua Iboe exports in March were revised higher to 11 cargoes, four more than the 7 planned to load in April, due to loading delays that have pushed February exports back. Field operator Exxon Mobil has reissued the export programme for Qua Iboe

several times this year, though the reason for the problems was not immediately clear.

The company dealt with strike action in late December that impacted its production, and also had to deal with the closure of the main pipeline that exports the oil.

Agbami, Amenam, Brass River and Erha were also set to load fewer cargoes in April, despite a respite in militant attacks in the Delta region and the lifting by ENI of force majeure on Brass River. Antan, which has field maintenance, will not export any cargoes in April.

Exports of Bonga were set to climb to 4 cargoes, from just one in March, as operator Shell completed field maintenance, traders said. There were also more cargoes of Bonny Light, Escravos, Owkwori and Usan.

April’s exports will also include four cargoes of Akpo condensate, for a total of 133,000 bpd, the same total as March but slightly higher on a bpd basis due to the shorter month in April.