Total crude oil production in Nigeria dropped from 735.24 million barrels in 2019 to 646.79 million barrels in 2020.This amounts to a 12.03% drop in output in 2020.
Data review from the 2020 report of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) shows that this is the lowest output recorded in the country in the last five years.
Having built production momentum from 2016 all through to 2019, the global crises experienced in 2020 affected Nigeria’s output. As a result, the country recorded the least output in the trend of years under review.
Monthly production output shows that there was a drastic increase in output as the months progressed. The country recorded the highest output of 63.89 million barrels in January. Output dropped in February and picked up in March.
However, the economic lockdown put in place towards the end of March took its toll on output. Output declined steadily from 63.67 million barrels in March to 47.96 million barrels in September. Production picked up again in October to 50.4 million barrels but dropped for the next months to close at 44.67 million barrels in December.
Based on the Joint Venture (JV) agreement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is entitled to a percentage of the output from companies. This agreement however covered just 12 out of 30 companies in the country.
Data analysis shows that JV output of 271.42 million barrels represents 41.96% of the total production and is lower than that of 2019 by 12.53%. Total JV production in 2019 was 310.28 million barrels and that of 2020 is 271.42 million barrels.
Out of the total output from JV of 271.42 million barrels, 158.12 million barrels went to NNPC. Making up 58.25% of the total production from JV output in 2020.