Angola Overtakes Nigeria as Africa’s Largest Oil Producer in April 2023

Angola overtook Nigeria to become Africa’s top oil producer in April 2023, according to direct reporting data from the April 2023 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR).

The report shows that Angola recorded crude oil production of 1.06 million barrels/day in April 2023. Nigeria recorded crude oil production of 999,000 bbl/d in April 2023 and Algeria recorded the same 999,000 bbl/d in the highlighted period.

This is the lowest production rate Nigeria has recorded in 2023. Earlier in the week, data gleaned from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showed that Nigeria was producing 998,602 barrels of crude oil per day in April 2023.

The OPEC report further noted that OPEC-13 total crude oil production averaged 28.60 million barrels per day (mb/d) in April 2023, down 191,000 barrels per day (tb/d) from April 2023 corresponds to the previous month.

Crude oil production rose primarily in Saudi Arabia, Angola and Iran, while production in Iraq and Nigeria fell. OPEC has stated that world oil demand in 2023 is still dependent on rising global tensions.

This is what the group claimed in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) published on May 11.In the report, OPEC said total global oil demand is expected to reach 101.9 million barrels per day (mb/d) by 2023.

However, this forecast is subject to many uncertainties, including global economic developments and ongoing geopolitical tensions, the report showed.