09-06-08 Angola has over taken Nigeria as Africa’s largest producer of crude oil, according to the latest Oil Mining Report (OMR) released by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
In its OMR for the month of May, OPEC in a data collected from secondary sources disclosed that Angola’s production levels for the month of April reached 1.87 mm bpd, while Nigeria’s declined to 1.81 mm bpd from a high of 2.5 mm bpd just three years ago.

According to OPEC statistics, Nigeria’s daily output showed a steady decline as it averaged 2.235 bpd in 2006, to 2.125 bpd in 2007. The country’s output further shrunk to 2.065bpd in January this year, before appreciating a little to 2.076 bpd in February. In March the figure went down to 2.069 bpd before receding to an all time low of 1.818 bpd in April.
OPEC also noted that during the same period, Angola’s daily output rose by over 800, 000 bpd from 1.385 bpd in 2006 to 1.660 bpd in 2007. The country’s output increased steadily from 1.865 bpd in January this year to 1.881 in February before declining to 1.869 bpd in March and 1.873 bpd in April.

The oil cartel attributed Angola’s rising output to several new offshore projects coming online in the oil-rich waters off the coast of Cabinda province. Nigeria’s steady decline in oil production was blamed on strikes in the oil-rich region.
Total crude oil production by OPEC averaged 29.42 mm bpd in April, down by 289,000 barrels from the month of March. OPEC blamed the decline on significant fall of 250,000 bpd in Nigerian production due to attacks by various armed groups in the Niger Delta. Oil workers and installations in the Niger Delta are being kidnapped and attacked by militants and other alleged criminal gangs operating in the area.

French oil major Total said it was assessing its presence in the country because of the increasing volatility of the oil-rich region, which has cut crude oil production by about a quarter. Nigeria used to dominate oil production in Africa as it pumped more than$ 400 bn worth of crude over the last fifty years of oil exploration and production, according to estimates.
Analysts say the country will return to its former position as the top oil producer if few of the shut-in facilities resume production.

Angola also has its own share of militant activities as armed group battle for the control of the country’s oil resources. Like Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, Angola’s Cabinda province, which hosts more than half of the country’s oil, has been engulfed in crisis caused by an armed group known as the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC).
Members of FLEC who fled the area during the Angolan civil war have returned and are fighting with the Angolan government for a greater share of the country’s oil revenue. Though a peace deal was last year brokered between the FLEC and the government, there are still pockets of armed violence in the region, prompting the government to deploy heavy detachment of troops to forestall further violence.