Nigeria’s capacity to increase its crude output fell by 37% in less than three years, The Punch newspaper said, citing OPEC statistics.

The oil group’s September 2022 monthly oil market report said that the country’s oil rig count dropped to 10 in August 2022, from 16 in 2019.

Rig counts of other member countries such as Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE stood at 33, 117, 54, 27, 68 and 50, respectively.

OPEC data showed that the West African nation’s crude oil output fell to 900,000 barrels per day last month.

The country’s crude grade, Bonny Light, fell 10% to $106 per barrel in August 2022  from $117 per barrel in July 2022.

 The report said that the country’s crude oil production has declined from 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2020 to 1.2 million bpd in the first quarter of this year.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaira@lseg.com)