Follow Us on Google
•Q4 accounts for 66% losses
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Nigeria recorded 3.33 million barrels of crude oil theft in 2025, with about 66 per cent of the reported losses occurring in the fourth quarter.
The troubling development raised fresh concerns over persistent oil theft and its impact on the country’s revenue and production targets.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) disclosed this in its 2025 annual report released on Thursday, which showed that 2.19 million barrels of crude oil were stolen between October and December alone.
The figure represented a significant increase from the losses recorded in the preceding quarters, highlighting the growing challenge of protecting the country’s oil assets despite ongoing efforts to curb pipeline vandalism, illegal bunkering and crude oil theft.
A breakdown of the report showed that Nigeria recorded 896,471 barrels of crude oil theft in the first quarter of 2025.
However, the second quarter recorded a negative 200,400 barrels, which the commission described as an excess volume arising from its reconciliation exercise.
The volume of reported theft stood at 440,434 barrels in the third quarter before rising sharply to 2.19 million barrels in the fourth quarter.
The fourth-quarter figure accounted for approximately 66 per cent of the annual reported theft, making it the period with the highest volume of crude losses in the year under review.
The development comes amid persistent concerns over the impact of oil theft on government revenue, foreign exchange earnings and Nigeria’s ability to meet its crude oil production targets.
Despite the reported losses, the commission said Nigeria produced 541.08 million barrels of crude oil and blended condensate in 2025.
Quarterly production figures showed that output increased from 132.70 million barrels in the first quarter to 137.69 million barrels in the second quarter.
Production stood at 137.45 million barrels in the third quarter before declining slightly to 133.23 million barrels in the fourth quarter.
Unblended condensate production contributed another 48.52 million barrels during the year.
Beyond the crude oil theft and production figures, the report highlighted regulatory efforts to expand the country’s upstream petroleum capacity through the processing and approval of field development plans.
According to the commission, it processed 75 field development plan applications in 2025, comprising 58 applications received during the year and 17 carried over from 2024.
Of the applications, 48 were approved, 10 rejected, while 17 remained under processing at the end of the reporting period.
The approved projects are expected to unlock about 1.75 billion barrels of oil reserves, 104.48 million barrels of condensate reserves and 8.19 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
They are also projected to increase Nigeria’s production capacity by approximately 743,830 barrels of oil per day, 23,707 barrels of condensate per day and 3.09 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.
The commission said the approved projects were expected to achieve first oil between 2026 and 2030.
It added that seven of the 48 approved field development plans were exclusively focused on non-associated gas development.
The projected additions to production capacity are expected to support Nigeria’s ambition to increase oil and gas output, attract investment into the upstream sector and strengthen the country’s position in the global energy market.
However, the concentration of reported crude oil theft in the final quarter of 2025 underscores the continuing challenge of securing oil infrastructure and ensuring that increased production translates into higher government earnings.
Nigeria has continued to grapple with crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal connections, which have historically undermined production levels and reduced the volume of crude available for export and domestic refining.
