Yemisi Izuora
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, says that Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped by 150, 000 barrels per day in July.
An OPEC data indicated that the country’s production was said to have crashed after a disruption on the Trans Niger pipeline.
However, confirming disruption of production, minister of state for petroleum resources Ibe Kachikwu said the challenge is due to ageing facilities.
“We continue to have challenges, some of our pipelines are old, so these are basically technical. They are not militancy-induced stoppages, but they are basically maintenance-induced stoppages,” he said.
According to OPEC, the disruption in Nigeria’s July production figures, caused crude oil price to rise above $50p/b in the month.
Kachikwu said the Nigeria’s oil production was slightly below 1.8b/d in July, adding that condensates accounted for an extra 450, 000b/d to the country’s output in July.