Rilwan Lukman, Minister of Petroleum Resources, has put Nigeria's current potential crude oil production at three million barrels per day, according to the reports by the official News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday, according to Xinhua.
Lukman, who is attending the 153rd extra-ordinary meeting of the OPEC Conference in Vienna, made the remark against reported conflicting figures on the country's actual production in view of the challenging socio-economic situation in the Niger Delta.
"We are clear, we know what is going on. We have lost about half of our potential production figure not only due to the damages and militancy in the Niger Delta, but also to operational reasons," he was quoted as saying.
"At the moment, our potential production capacity is about three million barrels per day and we are doing about 1.7 million barrels, which is our current quota," he said.
The minister commented on new developments in the industry, including Chevron's loss of about 100,000 barrels, Agip's announcement of a force majeurs and Total also shutting some of its capacity in the Niger Delta.
"These have indeed affected our production capacity, but for a long term, not immediate. For some time, we have not been able to produce at our full potential because of the challenging situation we have in the Niger Delta," he said.
"Our hope is that sooner than later, the situation will normalize and the market will be able to support higher production, " said the minister.
According to the minister, it is better to moderate Nigerian oil production so that the country can earn better revenue from what we are producing instead of producing more and earning less.