Nigeria has once again failed to meet its crude oil production quota as set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), according to a review of the organisation’s latest monthly report. The report shows that the country produced an average of 1.401 million barrels of crude oil per day, falling short of the stipulated OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels daily for member countries.
Further analysis of the OPEC report indicates that of the ten months reviewed, spanning from December 2024 to September 2025, Nigeria failed to meet the 1.5 million-barrel-per-day quota on seven occasions. Production for the third quarter of 2025 averaged 1.444 million barrels per day, representing a decline from the second quarter (1.48 million barrels daily) and the first quarter (1.46 million barrels daily). Crude oil production has remained constrained by several factors, including sabotage, pipeline vandalism, and poor management of the oil sector.
Meanwhile, the country has also struggled to meet local refinery demand for crude oil, an ongoing challenge despite its crude allocation policy. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) confirmed that a total of 67,657,559 barrels of crude oil were supplied to local refiners for processing between January and August 2025, in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation policy.
However, an estimated total of 123.4 million barrels was projected to be required by local refineries between January and June, with a daily requirement put at 770,500 barrels. With only 67.7 million barrels supplied between January and August, it indicates that over 55.8 million barrels, or at least 45 per cent of the crude oil required domestically, were not supplied. Persistent shortfalls in crude production and supply could undermine Nigeria’s revenue generation and economic growth, prompting industry experts to urge the government to intensify efforts to tackle these issues.
