Nigeria’s crude oil production declined by four per cent in July 2026, although the country continued to exceed its OPEC production quota for the third consecutive month, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the commission stated that the country’s latest production statistics showed that Nigeria produced an average of 1.505 million barrels per day (mbpd) of crude oil in July, above its OPEC quota of 1.5mbpd.

An additional 0.17mbpd of condensate was produced during the month, bringing total average daily production of crude oil and condensate to 1.67mbpd.

However, the July crude oil output represented a four per cent decline from the previous month.

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In June, Nigeria produced an average of 1.53 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) during the month. With a condensate production of 170,446 bpd included, Nigeria’s average total hydrocarbon output in June stood at 1.7 million bpd.

On Wednesday, the NUPRC attributed the decline in July’s production output to operational challenges at the Erha and Akpo fields, which affected production volumes during the period.

“These disruptions constrained production volumes and contributed significantly to the overall reduction in national crude oil output,” the commission said.

Despite the disruptions, the combined daily production of crude oil and condensate peaked at 1.78mbpd in July, while the lowest daily output was 1.57mbpd.

A breakdown of average daily crude oil and condensate production by terminals and streams showed that Forcados Terminal recorded the highest output at 322.34 thousand barrels per day (kbpd).

Bonny Terminal followed with 303.72kbpd, while Qua Iboe Terminal recorded an average daily production of 158.02kbpd.

Escravos Oil Terminal posted an average of 131.41kbpd, while Bonga ranked fifth with 100.23kbpd of crude oil production.

The NUPRC said production operations across other producing assets remained relatively stable despite the challenges experienced at the affected fields.

It said operators implemented measures to maintain production efficiency and minimise the impact of operational constraints, while routine production and crude evacuation activities were largely sustained across the sector.

The commission said industry stakeholders remained focused on resolving the identified operational challenges, restoring affected production capacity and improving asset reliability.

The July production performance, it added, underscored the need for proactive asset management, operational resilience and timely intervention to minimise disruptions in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.