Oil Theft Slumps 82.9% to 17,600bpd in Five Years Amid Fresh Uptick in Losses.
The figures in the commission’s fifth anniversary publication, ‘The Upstream Gaze’, highlighted both progress in curbing crude theft and the ongoing challenge of protecting oil production and transportation infrastructure.
According to the data, daily losses declined from 102,900 bpd in 2021 to 55,000 bpd in 2022, representing a 46.5 per cent reduction.
The downward trend continued in 2023 when losses dropped to 22,900 bpd, before falling further to 11,200 bpd in 2024 and 9,100 bpd in 2025.
The federal government attributed the cut in crude losses to the combined efforts of the military, local pipeline surveillance groups in the Niger Delta, and the introduction of modern crude measuring devices in the region. The figures showed that Nigeria’s total liquid hydrocarbon production, comprising crude oil and condensate, gradually recovered from the lows recorded in recent years. Output averaged 1.63 million bpd in the first seven months of 2026, compared with 1.62 million bpd in 2025, 1.56 million bpd in 2024, 1.47 million bpd in 2023 and 1.38 million bpd in 2022. Production stood at 1.62 million bpd in 2021, the NUPRC data highlighted.
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