The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has unveiled plans to hit 2 million barrels of oil production per day, up from the 1.8million allocated to it by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for the month of October.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, stated this at a briefing marking the NURPC first anniversary in Abuja.
He said: “So, our projection is we could actually come back to hit over 2million barrels a day as a nation. That is meeting and surpassing our OPEC quota.
“We feel that is possible and we are quite committed to that as a commission.”
He noted that one of the measures to raise production is to reopen and produce 500,000mb/d from presently shut-in-wells.
He also noted that the nation would be harvesting about 400,000mb/d from the re-streaming of Forcados terminal.
The NURPC boss added that what the country has been losing to crude oil theft on daily basis is about 80,000mb to 100,000mb.
He stated that criminal activities have depressed Nigeria crude oil production to about 1.1mb/d.
Komolafe said his engagements with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and operators of the shut-in-wells have been positive, reassuring that the commission can harness the above measures to beef up the country crude oil production to surpass the OPEC quota.
He explained that the wells were shut-in to reduce production beneficial to criminals.