NIgeria’s daily oil production hits 1.57 million barrels

Nigeria and several other members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries exceeded their oil production quotas in March, according to S&P Global Platts.

Nigeria, which had also recently improved its compliance, saw a steady rise in its March exports.

Nigeria produced 1.57 million barrels per day last month, a 30,000 bpd rise from February, and 70,000 bpd above its quota.

Crude oil production from OPEC and its allies rose by 450,000 bpd in March, the latest S&P Global Platts survey found, as Russia and Iraq pumped well above their agreed caps, while quota-exempt members Iran and Libya also boosted output. In Libya’s case, its production hit an almost eight-year high.

Iraqi compliance fell to 88 per cent in March, as it produced 3.95 million bpd, an increase of 60,000 bpd from the previous month.

Despite a fall in exports, its crude inventories grew, survey panelists said. The March figure is almost 90,000 bpd above its OPEC plus production quota of 3.857 million bpd.

Meanwhile, Angolan crude output recovered to 1.16 million bpd in March after its production had slumped to a 16-year low in February.

OPEC’s 13 members pumped 25.20 million bpd in March, up 340,000 bpd from February, while their nine non-OPEC partners, led by Russia, produced 13.08 million bpd, a rise of 110,000 bpd, the survey found.

With the production gains, OPEC plus compliance with its quotas slipped to 111 per cent in March, compared with 113.5 per cent in February, juiced by Saudi Arabia voluntarily cutting an additional 1 million bpd since January.