Nigeria Has ‘No Business’ Producing 2m Barrel Of Crude Oil Per Day- OPEC Chair

Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC  says Nigeria has the capacity to produce four million barrel per day, bpd.

He spoke at a business forum in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Thursday organised by Heirs Holdings, owned by Nigeria’s business man, Tony Elumelu

The OPEC board chairman remark comes amidst the struggle by the country to produce two million barrel set for it by the international oil cartel, due to some intervening factors including the restiveness in the country’s Niger Delta, apart from the serious crude oil theft in the creeks which has marred the sector for years.

The situation, according to experts, has affected the nation’s revenue which is highly dependent on oil income.

According to the figures obtained from the government-controlled oil firm, the NNPC Limited as of November 2024, Nigeria’s crude oil production peaked at 1.8 million barrels per day bpd.

In spite of the seeming challenges, Adeyemi-Bero hinted that Nigeria has no business producing “below two million barrels a day’, saying she has proved this by attaining 1.7 million barrel per day in January this year.

He said efforts should be made to further attain four million crude production,  noting that this is not impossible considering that the country already showed the capacity to achieve this. M

According to him, “I think the important thing we should understand is that with Nigeria’s reserves and resources, it doesn’t have any business being below two million barrels a day. Nigeria should be doing two and a half, three, or four million barrels a day with its resource base. And I believe we can do it. And I do believe that even those in OPEC and around the world believe that, but we have to demonstrate that we can actually produce that.

“What happened in January is a major demonstration. The country demonstrated that it can deliver above 1.5mbpd. I think that’s the beginning of giving confidence that we can get more quotas.”