Nigeriaâs oil production declined after a major oil field shut down due to leaks.Â
The Nembe Creek oil field, with 150,000 barrels of crude oil daily, was shut down on Monday, June 17, 2024.
The leak reportedly occurred on the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), a pipeline that transports oil from the field to the Bonny Oil Export Terminal.
Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company, the pipeline operator, disclosed the leak and the shutdown.
Aiteo reported that the leak was found during a route operation in the Nembe area of Bayelsa state.
According to reports, Aiteo noted that its Oil Spill and Emergency Response Team was activated and dispatched, and all the production from OML 29 was shut down as a precautionary measure to forestall the impact of the incident.
It is still being determined what caused the leak, but the company said the shutdown prevented the spill.
Reports say the company said its joint venture partners, relevant regulators, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDA) have been notified of the incident.
Analysts say that the development is set back to Nigeriaâs oil production, which declined to 1.25 million, according to data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The OPECâs data shows that Nigeriaâs crude oil production declined to 1.25 million barrels daily in May 2024, TimesNow.com.ng reported.
The information is contained in OPECâs monthly oil market report released on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, and is based on direct communication with Nigerian authorities.
OPECâs data comes from communication with member countries and secondary sources such as energy intelligence platforms.
The 1.25 million barrels in May represents a 2.34% drop from the 1.28 million barrels recorded in April this year.
Despite the dip in oil production, Nigeria remains Africaâs largest oil producer for the month under review, with Libya coming second with 901,000 barrels and Algeria third with 264,000 barrels of crude.
Secondary sources reported a different figure, showing that Nigeriaâs crude oil production rose by five percent to 1.41 million barrels daily, up from the 1.35 million barrels per day produced in April.
The two figures, however, fall short of OPECâs 2024 oil production quota for Nigeria, which is about 1.5 million barrels daily.
The global oil cartel said crude oil production from Gabon and Equatorial Guinea increased, with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, and Congo experiencing a decline in production.
OPEC reported that crude oil production averaged 26.63 million barrels per day in May 2024, an increase of 29,000 barrels per day.
TimesNow.com.ng previously reported that the Dangote Refinery is set to export a shipment of low-sulfur straight-run fuel oil (LSSR) from Nigeria to Singapore this week.
