The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed these figures during a media briefing in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. He cited the latest weekly data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Active drilling rigs in Nigeria surged from fewer than 10 in 2023 to over 70 active rigs. After a decade of near-zero investment, Nigeria now attracts 60 per cent of all oil and gas investments entering Africa.
Long-delayed divestments—including Shell to Renaissance and ExxonMobil to Seplat—were approved, triggering new developments in the Bonga North, Bonga South-West, and Zabazaba fields.
• Collaborative security efforts with private agencies significantly reduced crude oil theft. Concurrently, indigenous operators stepped up, now accounting for over 50 per cent of national output.
While the 1.824 million barrels per day milestone includes condensates (which are excluded from official OPEC quotas), the federal government maintains that the rapid turnaround stabilizes the petroleum sector as they push toward an ultimate target of 2.5 million barrels per day.
