Nigeria’s crude oil production rose slightly to 1.38 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, according to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The figure marks a 5.25 per cent increase from 1.31 million bpd recorded in February, as disclosed in OPEC’s March Monthly Oil Market Report released on Monday.
OPEC said its data on Nigeria’s output were obtained through direct communication with Nigerian authorities, in line with the group’s practice of sourcing member‑country figures from both official channels and secondary sources such as energy intelligence platforms. By OPEC’s primary assessment, Nigeria remains below its 1.5 million bpd production quota, falling short by about 117,000 bpd.
Despite the gap, the cartel noted that Nigeria retained its position as Africa’s top oil producer, outpacing Libya, which recorded 1.30 million bpd in the same period. However, data from secondary sources cited by OPEC placed Nigeria’s March output at 1.46 million bpd, a 1.39 per cent month‑on‑month rise from 1.44 million bpd in February.
OPEC also reported that total Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) crude output from member states averaged 35.06 million bpd in March 2026, about 7.70 million bpd below the previous month’s level.
Earlier in April, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced that Nigeria’s daily crude production had climbed to 1.84 million bpd, a figure later revised downward to 1.71 million bpd by Bashir Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, underscoring the variance in reporting between domestic agencies and the cartel.