Nigeria meets OPEC quota for fifth straight month as oil output hits 1.84m barrels

Nigeria’s average daily production of crude oil and condensate rose 2.34 per cent to 1.72 million barrels in September from 1.68 million barrels in the preceding month, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said Tuesday

The commission noted in a statement that Africa’s biggest oil producer logged a peak production of 1.84 million barrels during the month as the country met its OPEC quota for the fifth month in a row.

“Nigeria produced a daily average of 1,717,030 barrels of crude oil and condensate in the month of September 2026, representing a 2.34 per cent increase when compared to the previous month,” the statement said.

NUPRC said the lowest daily production recorded during the period under review was 1.68 million barrels.

Nigeria aspires to ramp up output level to 3 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2030, when the upstream regulator anticipates a minimum of 22 offshore projects, capable of unlocking about $50 billion worth of investment, to have kicked off production.

The government has introduced several reforms, including tax incentives, drill-or-drop policy, fiscal modernisation, among others, to attract new capital and revive idle oil fields.

Excluding condensate, Nigeria produced an average of 1.53 million bpd in September, representing 102 per cent of the 1.5 million bpd quota assigned to it by OPEC.

According to the NUPRC, Nigeria produced 1.53 million bpd in May, 1.55 million bpd in June, 1.51 million bpd in July and 1.5 million bpd in August.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo, Diri renew Niger Delta’s agitation for bigger oil revenue

The commission attributed the improvement in September to stable operations across most producing assets and an absence of major pipeline outages during the period, helping boost production uptime and the efficiency of crude oil evacuation.

“The sustained growth recorded in September reflects the continued commitment of operators and industry stakeholders towards improving operational efficiency, maintaining asset integrity, and enhancing production reliability across the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector,” the statement said.

Average daily crude oil and condensate production by terminal and stream showed that Forcados Terminal recorded the highest output at 320,320 barrels per day, followed by Bonny Terminal with 303,270 barrels per day, it said.