Nigeria’s earnings from crude oil export jumped by N337 billion in March, reaching N1.8 trillion. This happened as the country increased crude oil output to 1.6 million barrels per day in March, up from 1.3 million barrels per day in February. In January, output was 1.25mbp, while in February, it was 1.3mbp.
According to shipping statistics obtained by the Nigerian news agency, The PUNCH, from Refinitiv Eikon, the nation met its 1.6mb/d production target for the first quarter of 2023. The country’s increased output has contributed considerably to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ March output of 28.90 Mbps.
Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, stated in December 2022, during the World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update and Country Economic Memorandum in Abuja, that the country planned for crude oil production to reach 1.6 million barrels per day by the first quarter of 2023.
With a 300,000 b/d increase in March, the country’s output has increased by 9.3 million barrels in the review period. The total output for the month was 49,600,000 barrels.
When the international price of Brent was $77 per barrel in March, Nigeria’s Bonny Light was sold for $78. This implies the nation earned an additional N337 billion for the month. The total income from crude oil production was around N1.8tn.
In the previous year, Nigeria could not meet its OPEC output quotas. During the Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting last September, the NNPCL presented data indicating that Nigeria lost up to 8.14 million barrels in August.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics statistics, the oil sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product declined to 5.7 percent in the third quarter of this year.
According to Ahmed, the country’s Excess Crude Account dropped by 89% in the last eight years, from $4.1 billion in November 2014 to $472,513 in 2022.
