Nigeria is producing 1.78 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), Minister of State for Petroleum Emmanuel Kachikwu said on Wednesday.
Kachikwu added that the West African country was expecting output from Egina oilfield to reach 150,000 bpd by the end of the month which could boost total production.
“The work that we have at the ministry is to determine what component of that 150,000 barrels is pure crude and what is condensates,” he told reporters in Abuja, after a cabinet meeting.
“If it is pure crude it raises certain other implications in terms of the OPEC quota. If it is condensates then obviously we smile.”
With production cuts agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Nigeria’s output has been around 1.74 million, excluding extremely light oil known as condensates.
The minister said Nigeria produced condensates of 350,000 bpd.
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Kachikwu has said Nigeria aimed to produce 2.2 million barrels in 2019.
The minister said the cabinet approved a contract to replace a crude pipeline for Opkoho and Okono fields on OML 119 for $37 million to help boost output.
Kachikwu also said state-owned NNPC and prospective private investors were in disagreement on financial terms over the revamp of the country’s refineries.
