Nigeria’s Oil Output to Hit 1.8m Barrels Daily Before Year-End — NNPCL Boss
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, says Nigeria’s crude oil production is on track to reach 1.8 million barrels per day before the end of the year.
Ojulari stated this on Sunday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos, where he briefed the President on the national oil company’s activities since his appointment on April 2.
He said the company’s turnaround maintenance programmes carried out in August and September are beginning to yield results.
“With some of the maintenance we’ve done recently, production is bouncing back. We’re hopeful that before the year runs out, we should be hitting at least 1.8 million barrels per day,” Ojulari said.
Ojulari also addressed the recent industrial dispute between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Dangote Refinery, which disrupted oil operations across the country.
The dispute followed allegations that the refinery dismissed over 800 Nigerian workers and replaced them with foreign staff. In response, PENGASSAN declared a nationwide strike on September 26, which lasted five days before being suspended after Federal Government intervention.
Ojulari described the strike as “unfortunate,” noting that it caused significant losses to oil production and power generation.
“When critical staff are unavailable, operations are affected. We lost over 200,000 barrels per day of crude during that period. Gas production was also deferred, and power generation dropped by about 1.2 megawatts,” he said.
He commended the swift intervention of the Federal Government, through the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and the Minister of Labour, which led to the recall of the sacked workers and the restoration of operations.
“I’m very pleased with the government’s role,” Ojulari said. “Thanks to the dialogue facilitated by the Labour Minister and the National Security Adviser, we’ve been able to gradually restore production and recover from the losses.”
Ojulari expressed optimism that with continued cooperation among stakeholders, Nigeria’s oil sector will stabilise and sustain improved output levels before December.
“We’re catching up,” he said. “The signs are positive — production is coming back, and the outlook for the industry is bright.”