•NNPC’s Ojulari says syndicates exploit security gaps to steal Nigeria’s oil

Emmanuel in Addeh Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said that Nigeria’s oil output recorded a significant growth in July 2025, averaging 1.71 million barrels per day, a 9.9 per cent year-on-year surge from the 1.56 million bpd produced in July 2024.
In a statement yesterday, the commission stated that the figure comprised 1.507 million bpd of crude oil and 204,864 bpd of condensates.
“This reflects a 9.9 per cent year-on-year surge from the 1.56 million bpd produced in July 2024, which included 1.33 million bpd of crude oil and 226,866 bpd of condensates”, the organisation said in the statement posted on its website.
On a month-on-month basis, output rose by 0.89 per cent compared to the 1.69 million bpd recorded in June 2025, which comprised 1.505 million bpd of crude oil and 191,572 bpd of condensates, the commission added.
On the monthly performance of Nigeria’s crude oil terminals, Forcados recorded the highest output in July 2025 with 9.04 million barrels, representing a 2.1 per cent increase from 8.85 million barrels in June.
At the Bonny terminal, production rose to 8.07 million barrels in July, a 12.7 per cent increase compared to 7.16 million barrels recorded in the previous month, the document added, while the Qua Iboe terminal pumped 4.55 million barrels in July, lower than the 5.08 million barrels produced in June.
The NUPRC noted that output from the Escravos terminal climbed by 7.1 per cent to 4.47 million barrels in July, up from 4.17 million barrels in June, while Bonga terminal delivered 3.68 million barrels during the month, reflecting a 4.2 per cent rise from the 3.53 million barrels recorded in June.
The Odudu (Amenam Blend) terminal posted a 2.9 per cent growth, producing 2.12 million barrels in July compared to 2.06 million barrels the month before. Production output at the Tulja-Okwuibome terminal rose by 2.8 per cent, from 2.02 million barrels in June to 2.08 million barrels in July.
Similarly, production at the Brass terminal, the statement said, surged by 27 per cent during the month under consideration, increasing from 877,975 barrels in June 2024 to 1.12 million barrels in July.
THISDAY recalls that Nigeria’s 2025 federal budget is built on an oil benchmark price of about $75 per barrel and a production target of 2.06 million, a target the federal government is yet to meet this year.
Meanwhile, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Bayo Ojulari, yesterday argued that specialised international and continental gangs take advantage of security gaps to steal the crude from Nigeria and across Africa.
Ojulari stated this at the opening of the Africa Chiefs of Defence Staff Conference held in Abuja, where he maintained that crude oil theft has continental and international dimensions and should be tackled holistically through collaboration and synergy among various military formations across Africa.
He said: “Crude theft and its attendant illegal activities are by no means a purely localised occurrence; rather, these operations involve specialised international syndicates that take advantage of gaps within the state, national and continental security architecture to conduct illegal activities,” he said.
Ojulari, however, declared that crude theft and pipeline vandalism, especially within the oil-rich Niger Delta area of Nigeria, have been largely resolved because of the efforts of security agencies.
“Security forms a key pillar of the energy business and therefore plays a very important and strategic role in achieving national, regional and continental energy security goals,” he said, noting that as head of the largest national oil company on the continent, “we have seen the benefit of the collaboration within the energy space, with significant improvement in our operating environment”.
The NNPC GCEO added: “The dilapidating impact of crude theft, low pipeline availability and attacks are issues that have become stories of the past for us. These have come from the immense and intentional efforts of our government agencies across the nation and, in particular, within the Niger Delta.
“Today, I can proudly report to you all that our pipelines and terminals’ receipt of crude oil, which was somewhere as low as 20 per cent to 30 per cent, that we are attaining close to 100 per cent due to the support of the security forces and the intelligence agencies.”
Besides, Ojulari said continental forums such as the gathering should be encouraged to strengthen strategic activities within the continent of Africa.

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