Nigeria Loses 3.3m Barrels To Oil Theft In 2025 — NUPRC

Nigeria Loses 3.3 m Barrels To Oil Theft In 2025– NUPRC

Nigeria lost 3.33 million barrels of petroleum to theft in 2025, with almost two-thirds of the reported losses happening in the last 3 months, as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)’s earnings collection decreased by N2.14 tn.

The commission’s 2025 yearly report, launched on Thursday, revealed that petroleum and gas income collections fell from N12.56 tn in 2024 to N10.42 tn in 2025, representing a 17.03 percent decrease, regardless of boosts in invoices from gas flare charges, signature perks and concession leasings.

Information from the commission’s 2025 report revealed that unrefined theft increased dramatically in the 4th quarter, when 2.19 million barrels were taped. This represented 65.8 percent of the overall volume reported for the year and was nearly 5 times the 440,434 barrels taped in the 3rd quarter.

The commission taped 896,471 barrels of unrefined theft in the very first quarter, while its second-quarter report revealed an unfavorable figure of 200,400 barrels, which it credited to excess volumes recognized throughout reconciliation.

The combined quarterly figures brought reported losses for the year to roughly 3.33 million barrels.

The report checked out, “Nigeria tape-recorded 896,471 barrels of petroleum theft in the very first quarter.

The 2nd quarter taped an unfavorable 200,400 barrels, which the commission referred to as an excess volume in its reconciliation. Reported theft stood at 440,434 barrels in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter tape-recorded 2.19 million barrels, the greatest quarterly volume of the year.”

The losses came in spite of the big monetary concern of protecting the nation’s petroleum possessions. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reported energy security expenses of N8.67 tn in 2025, compared to about N3.1 tn in 2024.

The expense shows the expense of interventions to safeguard oil and gas facilities and assistance nationwide energy security, although the whole quantity can not be associated exclusively to combating unrefined theft.

The determination of theft together with the increasing security expenses raises concerns about the efficiency of procedures to secure production centers and unrefined evacuation facilities.

The losses likewise represent crude that might otherwise have actually added to federal government earnings, export revenues and the supply of feedstock to domestic refineries.

In spite of the reported theft, Nigeria produced 541.08 million barrels of petroleum and mixed condensate in 2025. Quarterly production stood at 132.70 million barrels in the very first quarter, 137.69 million in the 2nd, 137.45 million in the 3rd and 133.23 million in the 4th quarter. The nation likewise produced 48.52 million barrels of unblended condensate throughout the year.

On earnings, oil and gas royalties, consisting of Project Gazelle and NNPC receivables, stayed the biggest factor, creating N8.97 tn in 2025, compared to N11.08 tn in 2024. The decrease of N2.11 tn represented a 19.03 percent decrease.

“The overall accepted budget plan for 2025 was N645,462,335,500.80, with overall earnings of N342,814,462,174.97 and overall expense was N304,533,385,103. Overall income produced was N10,424,478,448,682.40, which is 63 percent of forecasted income of N16,538,206,608,738.00.

“357 oil spill events were reported. 49.5 percent of the spills were an outcome of sabotage. There was a boost of 64.74 percent in earnings in 2024 over 2023 and a reduction of 20.53 percent in 2025 over 2024 profits,” the report included.

Invoices from gas flare charges increased from N391.26 bn to N611.42 bn, representing a 56.27 per cent increase.

Signature perks likewise increased by 44.2 percent, from N369.58 bn in 2024 to N532.94 bn in 2025, while concession leasings increased by 61.1 percent, from N23.71 bn to N38.19 bn.

Various earnings increased from N35.20 bn to N46.44 bn. On the other hand, royalty by rate decreased from N313.72 bn to N213.41 bn, while lease renewal invoices fell dramatically from N230.73 bn to N8.23 bn.

The commission’s overall earnings from expense of profits collection and internally produced income, nevertheless, increased by 21.85 percent to N342.81 bn in 2025, compared to N281.34 bn in 2024.

The report revealed that expense of earnings collection contributed N335.45 bn, while internally produced profits represented N7.36 bn.

The commission produced N10.42 tn versus a predicted earnings target of N16.54 tn, representing 63 percent efficiency.

Beyond unrefined theft, the report recorded 357 oil spill events throughout the year, with sabotage accounting for 49.5 percent of the reported cases.