By Bonny Amadi
Nigeria continues to record reduced earnings from crude oil sales due to decline in daily production, a trend that shaped the sector in February 2025.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) acknowledging the production decline, announced that Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production declined to 1.46 million barrels per day (bpd) in February.
OPEC, in its latest monthly market report, released on Wednesday, said the production data was based on direct communication with Nigerian authorities.
OPEC receives data on crude oil production from two sources: direct communication from member countries, and secondary communication, which is derived from energy intelligence platforms.
According to the report, the current output signifies a 4.8 percent decrease from the 1.53 million bpd recorded in January — the first month-on-month output decline in the year.
The oil cartel said data from secondary sources put Nigeria’s crude production at 1.56 million bpd in February — a 2.2 percent increase from the 1.52 million bpd recorded in January.
With the current production volume, the global oil body said Nigeria retained its position as the biggest oil producer in Africa, with Algeria taking second position, producing 912,000 bpd output.
OPEC said secondary sources disclosed a “total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 363 tb/d in February, m-o-m, averaging about 41.01 mb/d”.
“Crude oil output increased mainly in Nigeria, Iraq and IR Iran, while in Gabon and Congo production decreased,” OPEC said.
“At the same time, total non-OPEC DoC crude oil production averaged 14.15 mb/d in February 2025 and averaged 2088 tb/d lower, m-o-m.
“Crude oil output increased mainly in Kazakhstan, while production in Mexico, Malaysia and Russia decreased.”
On March 3, OPEC and its allies (OPEC+) announced their decision to increase oil output in April.
