Nigeria raises oil output to 1.6m bpd – Kachikwu

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has said Nigeria’s oil production has shot up to 1.6 million barrels per day.

He revealed this in Vienna on Thursday as leaders of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC converged for the biannual general meeting.
When asked what his thought on the meeting was, Kachikwu said he saw “open-mindedness” in the OPEC meeting, but did not know what the outcome would be.
He then said Nigeria’s oil production had climbed to 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd).
“Last month, output had fallen to 1.4 million bpd
due to a string of militant attacks and an accident on the ExxonMobil platform exporting Qua Iboe, the country’s largest crude oil stream.”
Despite the continued attacks by militants in the restive Niger Delta region, Kachikwu said Nigeria is targeting oil production of 2.2-2.3 million bpd for this year.
Nigeria’s oil production had dwindled due to spates of attacks on its oil and gas pipelines by new militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, NDA.
Oil companies such as Chevron, Shell, Agip and others have had their pipelines vandalized in the process,as the Group agitates for a sovereign state of Biafra.
President Buhari who was to visit Ogoni on Thursday to flag off the cleaning of the region, was said to have cancelled his trip on an alleged threat from a suspected member of the NDA, who warned the President to stay off Biafra land or prepare to meet his death upon stepping foot in the region