Nigeria has intensified its efforts to combat oil theft in the Niger Delta region in order to boost national production to 3 million barrels per day by 2025.
Large-scale oil theft has hindered the government’s finances in recent years, affecting Africa’s largest oil producer, which depends on the commodity for approximately two-thirds of state revenue and more than 90% of foreign currency earnings.
Official figures indicate that actual production is approximately 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd), despite the government’s projection of an oil output of approximately 2.06 million bpd in the upcoming budget.
The Nigerian navy and the petroleum ministry initiated Delta Sanity (OPDS) last year as an operation to combat oil theft. Chief of Naval Staff Emmanuel Ogalla has augmented the OPDS in a second phase with armed drones, attack helicopters, enhanced intelligence, and other reinforcements. This could potentially increase oil production beyond the budget estimate to 3 million bpd.
“If you look at where we were last year, when we launched this operation, we were about 1.4 million bpd. We have now gone to 1.8 million.
“I believe that with all the assets that we are bringing on board, we are definitely going to meet that target and surpass it,” Ogalla said in a statement on Tuesday after the operation’s flag-off in the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt in Rivers state.
Minister of Petroleum (State) Heineken Lokpobiri said Nigeria’s average daily oil output was only a little above 1 million bpd when he came into office in August 2023.
“Our target is to reach 3 million bpd by 2025 and we are confident that the second phase of OPDS will play a key role in achieving this milestone.”
Last month, Rivers State Government donated six gunboats to the Navy to boost its operation against oil theft in the region.
