The repeated slump in Nigeria’s monthly oil outputs since January 2024 has resulted in a revenue loss of about N636.3bn.

Oil production data obtained from a Federal Government agency indicated that Nigeria produced 1.43 million barrels of crude oil (excluding condensates) in January this year, but this nosedived to 1.25mbpd in May.

Figures obtained from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission showed that while the total volume of crude produced in January was 44.22 million barrels, it dropped to 38.8 million barrels in May.

This represents a crude oil production plunge of 5.43 million barrels between January and May this year, based on NUPRC data.

The average cost of Brent, the global benchmark for crude oil in January was $80.12/barrel. It moved up marginally to $81.75 in May, according to data from Statistica, an international statistical firm.

Also, the average exchange rate of the naira against the United States dollar in May this year was N1,434.1/$. The naira has been struggling since January this year, dropping in value repeatedly against the dollar.

Based on the 5.43 million barrels crude oil production plunge, price of Brent and exchange rate of the naira in May, Nigeria lost estimated revenue of about N636.3bn between January and May this year.

Meanwhile, it was further observed that while Nigeria produced 1.43mbpd of crude oil in January, this dropped to 1.32mbpd in February, crashed to 1.23mbpd in March, rose up a little to 1.28mbpd in April, before falling to 1.25mbpd in May.

The continued plunge in Nigeria’s oil production has been blamed on the incessant vandalism of oil pipelines as well as crude oil theft. Efforts have been ongoing to end this, though not as fruitful as expected yet.