Angola takes top African oil producer status from Nigeria
Angola has surpassed Nigeria to take the top spot among African crude oil producer for the month of April. This is based on information from direct communication contained in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ April 2023 monthly oil market report.
Angola produced 1.06 million barrels per day of crude oil in April 2023, according to the data.
In the meantime, Algeria and Nigeria both registered daily production of 999,000 barrels during the highlighted period in April 2023. Nigeria’s production rate in 2023 is at its lowest level ever.
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According to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigeria produced 998,602 barrels of crude oil per day in April 2023, according to Nairametrics.
According to the OPEC report, the average daily output of crude oil from the OPEC-13 countries in April 2023 was 28.60 million barrels, down 191 thousand barrels from the previous month. While production in Iraq and Nigeria fell, it climbed mostly in Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Iran.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has said that world oil demand in 2023 is still dependent on rising global tensions. The group stated this in its monthly oil market report released on May 11. In the report, OPEC stated that total world oil demand is anticipated to reach 101.9 million barrels per day in 2023. But a part of the report states: “However, this forecast is subject to many uncertainties, including global economic developments and ongoing geopolitical tensions.”
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KPMG Nigeria, a tax consultancy firm, recently suggested that the Nigerian government seek for measures to boost its oil earnings. However, the fact that the nation would lose its position as the top African oil producer to Angola in April 2023 does not reassert confidence that the oil sector will operate well, at the very least, in the second quarter of 2023.
Several oil and gas firms, as well as nations that produce petroleum, benefited from higher oil prices brought on by the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited estimates that the country lost up to 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil in 2022, which prevented Nigeria from benefiting from the price increase.
In the MOMR by OPEC, it was stated that Nigeria’s economy faced challenges in gaining momentum in the first quarter of 2023, with business activity and consumer spending remaining subdued, in addition to high input-cost inflation and lower employment levels compared with 2022.
