Nigeria exceeded its Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude oil production quota by 2 per cent in September, sustaining its compliance with the target for the fifth consecutive month in 2026.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said the country produced an average of 1.53 million barrels of crude oil per day in September, against its OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels per day.
Eniola Akinkuotu, NUPRC’s Head of Corporate Communications, disclosed in a statement that Nigeria’s average daily production of crude oil and condensate rose by 2.34 per cent from the previous month to 1,717,030 barrels in September.
According to the commission, daily production peaked at 1.84 million barrels during the month, reinforcing Nigeria’s position as Africa’s largest crude oil producer.
The lowest daily production level was 1.68 million barrels, excluding condensate, the statement said.
NUPRC noted that Nigeria’s crude oil production, excluding condensate, remained around or above its OPEC quota throughout the five-month period. The country produced 1.53 million barrels per day in May, 1.55 million in June, 1.51 million in July, 1.5 million in August and 1.53 million in September.
The commission attributed the September performance largely to stable operations across most producing assets and the absence of major pipeline outages during the period.
It said improved operational stability helped 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 commission said.
A breakdown of average daily crude oil and condensate production by terminal showed that Forcados accounted for 320,320 barrels per day, while Bonny Terminal followed with 303,270 barrels per day.
The latest figures point to sustained improvement in Nigeria’s crude oil production performance. However, maintaining the gains will depend on continued operational stability, reliable evacuation infrastructure and efforts to minimise disruptions across producing assets.
