Elegbede Abiodun
Taking a leap from 1.48mbpd in February to 1.84mbpd in March.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has said Nigeria’s daily crude oil production has increased to about 1.8 million barrels per day.
As a result, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, commended the commission for the improvement.
The was contained in a statement signed by the NUPRC Head of Media and Corporate Communication, Eniola Akinkuotu, on Friday.
According to Akinkuotu, Edun gave the commendation when the Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, visited the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja on Thursday.
“It is heartening that you can tell us that you are doing 1.84 million barrels per day. That is fantastic news. That is totally in line with the mandate of President Bola Tinubu.
“Clearly, you have started on a very good note. Please keep it up,” Edun told the NUPRC boss.
The finance minister described the war in the Middle East as unfortunate but said Tinubu had mandated an increase in production even before the crisis began. He therefore called on the NUPRC to push the industry harder to hit 2 mbpd.
“I wish you continued success. What matters is not just reaching certain heights but sustaining it. We don’t want any stopping along the way. The trajectory should be maintained, and of course the magic figure is 2 mbpd,” Edun stated.
Speaking earlier, Eyesan said recent daily crude oil production had hit 1.84 mbpd.
“We are doing 1.84 million barrels per day. That is a remarkable feat, but I am sure we will do more,” she assured the minister.
The NUPRC chief executive attributed the prior dip in production in February to some unfortunate incidents on strategic facilities as well as turnaround maintenance.
“But all that has been fixed, and we are seeing production ramping up,” Eyesan announced.
On the 2025 licensing round, the chief executive said the commission was now in the technical and financial stage. She expressed optimism over growth in the petroleum sector, especially because of provisions such as the “drill or drop” clause in the Petroleum Industry Act, which empowers the commission to revoke leases of dormant acreages.
She added that some of the acreages put on offer could see production as soon as a year, noting that indigenous companies were showing impressive capacity.
Eyesan also said the commission had fully complied with Executive Order 9 of 2026, which directs the immediate suspension of the 30 per cent Frontier Exploration Fund deduction from profit oil and gas, alongside other management fees, and the direct remittance of the same to the federation account.
The statement from the NUPRC is an indication that oil production, crude and condensate, jumped from 1.48mbpd in February to 1.84mbpd in March.
