Nigeria’s crude oil output rose to 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, according to the most recent status report from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

When combined with blended and unblended condensates, total production reaches 1.41 million bpd for the same period, representing Nigeria’s highest production levels since last March. The country has faced declining production largely due to illegal oil theft in the Niger Delta region, which led Angola to assume the position of Africa’s largest oil producer last June. That said, efforts to eliminate oil theft have been heightened and authorities recently discovered an illegal underwater pipeline that was accounting for up to 600,000 barrels of lost production daily.

It should also be noted that Nigeria’s current output falls below the OPEC-led production quota of 1.8 million bpd for the West African producer. The country is aiming to raise oil output to 1.6 million bpd in the first quarter of 2023.