By Seun Ibiyemi
Nigeria’s upstream oil sector supplied 53.7 million barrels of crude oil in the second quarter of 2026, representing a 97.4 per cent performance rate against the 55.1 million barrels allocated to producers, data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has shown.
The reconciled Q2 data covering April to June also revealed that producers offered a significantly higher 69.3 million barrels during the period, indicating a 15.6 million-barrel gap between crude offered and actual supplies.
The figures highlight the challenge of converting crude volumes offered by producers into physical deliveries, with implications for government revenue, refinery feedstock availability and the wider petroleum value chain.
In April, producers supplied 20.9 million barrels, exceeding the 18.1 million barrels allocated and the 19.3 million barrels offered during the month.
However, performance weakened considerably in May. While producers offered 23.2 million barrels against an allocation of 18.8 million barrels, actual supply dropped to 14.2 million barrels.
The sector recovered in June, when actual supply increased to 18.6 million barrels, slightly above the 18.2 million barrels allocated. Producer offers, however, surged to a quarterly high of 26.8 million barrels.
The June figures left an estimated 8.2 million-barrel difference between crude offered and crude actually supplied.
The quarterly data suggest that crude availability at the producer-offer stage was substantially higher than the volumes ultimately delivered, pointing to potential operational and logistical constraints along the supply chain.
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For Nigeria, closing the gap could have significant economic benefits by improving crude availability for domestic refineries, strengthening export capacity and supporting government earnings from the petroleum sector.
The figures also come as Nigeria continues efforts to increase upstream production and ensure more reliable crude supply to domestic and international markets.
While the 97.4 per cent supply performance indicates that deliveries remained close to allocated volumes overall, the 69.3 million barrels offered compared with 53.7 million barrels supplied shows that significant additional supply capacity may exist if delivery constraints are addressed.
Industry stakeholders will therefore be watching efforts to improve the conversion of producer offers into actual crude deliveries, particularly as Nigeria seeks to maximise petroleum revenues and strengthen domestic refining.
