Nigeria’s oil production is steadily rising, hitting 1.476 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, the highest in more than three years, OPEC data showed, as the military and private security contractors crackdown on crude theft and pipeline sabotage.

Nigerian output fell to its lowest in decades in August 2022, below 1 million bpd, prompting the government to hire local private security firms to help soldiers guard pipelines.

In its most recent oil market report, OPEC recorded a 1.476 million bpd output for Africa’s biggest producer, the highest since December 2020.

State energy company NNPC Limited had so far destroyed over 6,000 illegal refineries used to process crude oil stolen from its export pipelines, its CEO said this week.

Nigeria has struggled to halt attacks on oil infrastructure which have kept the country from meeting its national budget targets and OPEC quota.

Two years ago, it took a combined team of military and private security companies to secure and reopen the major Trans Niger Pipeline operated by Shell that had been shut for almost a year due to massive crude oil theft.

OPEC says its crude oil output rose by 203,000 bpd to 26.57 million bpd in February, boosted by Nigerian and Libyan output, despite fresh voluntary OPEC+ cuts.

By REUTERS