The Society of Energy Editors (SEE), has projected that Nigeria’s oil production will rise in the third quarter of this year, covering the period July to September.
The latest forecast was contained in the SEE’s Third Quarter 2024 Outlook for Nigeria Energy Sector released at the weekend in Lagos.
The Society had released the Second Quarter 2024 Edition earlier in the year.
According to the Society, the increased oil production for Nigeria in the third quarter of this year will come from new oil fields coming on stream and ongoing efforts to revamp existing fields to boost output.
The SEE also predicted increased confidence in the Nigerian oil and gas sector in the third quarter as it said the management of the 2024 marginal fields bid round by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, would impact investor confidence.
The Society identified possible challenges for the country’s upstream oil and gas sub-sector in the quarter under review to include security issues in the Niger Delta, ongoing divestments by international oil companies, lack of investments, decaying infrastructure, poor governance structure, and poor implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, (PIA).
In the downstream petroleum sub-sector, the SEE projected that the nation’s refineries will operate at limited capacity due to unending maintenance and upgrades while fuel imports will remain high, putting pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
The society also noted that “with fuel sold at different prices across the country in line with subsidy removal, price hike could hit 300 percent in some states compared to the same time in 2023.”
The Group noted that with the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB’s continued domiciliation efforts, increased local participation is expected in the oil and gas industry.
“The management of the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund by the Bank of Industry could suffer constraints owing to political interference”, the Society warned.