Nigeria has once again fallen short of the 1.5 million barrels per day crude oil production quota assigned to it by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
According to the National Liquid Hydrocarbon Production Report released on Tuesday by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the country’s average daily crude oil production stood at about 1.4 million barrels per day, accounting for roughly 99 per cent of the OPEC target.
However, when condensates were added, total oil production for April rose to approximately 1.6 million barrels per day.
The latest figures come despite ongoing efforts by the Federal Government and stakeholders in the oil sector to increase production to 2 million barrels per day in a bid to improve revenue generation, boost foreign exchange inflows, and support the execution of the 2026 budget.
The report showed that Nigeria has continued to struggle to consistently achieve its OPEC-approved crude oil output quota. It also revealed that the country’s overall production remained below the 1.84 million barrels per day benchmark projected in the 2026 budget.
With the new data, Nigeria has now remained under its OPEC quota for nine consecutive months dating back to July 2025.
Details from the NUPRC report indicated that combined crude oil and condensate production reached a peak of 1.85 million barrels per day in April, while the lowest daily output recorded during the period was 1.46 million barrels per day. The April performance marked an improvement from March, when total production stood at 1.55 million barrels per day.
Nigeria’s oil sector has continued to face major setbacks over the years due to crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, ageing facilities, and inadequate investment in upstream operations.
Although April production figures showed slight improvement compared to previous months, output still failed to meet the OPEC production target.
In March, Nigeria’s crude oil production was put at 1.38 million barrels per day. While this represented an increase of 69,000 barrels per day from the 1.31 million barrels per day recorded in February, it still fell short of the OPEC quota by 117,000 barrels per day.
Earlier figures for February had shown a month-on-month drop of 146,000 barrels per day, further widening the gap between Nigeria’s actual production and its OPEC allocation.
Production had earlier risen slightly in January, moving from 1.422 million barrels per day in December 2025 to 1.46 million barrels per day before declining sharply again in February 2026.
Previous NUPRC data also showed that crude oil production dipped from 1.436 million barrels per day in November 2025 to 1.422 million barrels per day in December before recording a modest recovery in January.
Throughout 2025, Nigeria failed to meet its OPEC production target in nine months, only matching or slightly surpassing the quota in January, June and July.
The country began 2025 on a strong note with crude oil production reaching 1.54 million barrels per day in January, exceeding its OPEC quota by about 38,700 barrels per day.
But the momentum was not sustained as production declined to 1.47 million barrels per day in February and dropped further to 1.40 million barrels per day in March.