Nigeria’s oil output in July slightly below 1.8 barrels per day, says Kachikwu

Minister of Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu has revealed that Nigeria’s oil production, excluding condensates, was slightly below 1.8 million barrels per day in July.

“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.

Kachikwu, speaking on the sidelines of an event in Abuja, said there had been issues with aging pipelines.

When asked whether Nigeria would agree to join OPEC’s production cap at the group’s November meeting, the minister said: “I can’t disclose that.”

OPEC has agreed with several non-OPEC producers led by Russia to cut oil output by a combined 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from January 2017 until the end of March 2018. OPEC members Libya and Nigeria were exempted from the limits to help their oil industries recover from years of disruptions.

The minister said condensates contributed 450,000 bpd to Nigeria’s production in July.