Delta Retains Lead as Nigeria’s Top Oil-producing State, Lagos Records Zero Output 

Delta state has again emerged as Nigeria’s top producer of crude oil and condensates, maintaining a wide lead over other states and reinforcing its central role in the country’s hydrocarbon economy.

This is according to the latest data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which covered crude oil and gas production figures from November 2023 to September 2024.The report showed that Delta alone accounted for nearly 100 million barrels of oil and condensate within the 11-month period. Specifically, the state produced 99.9 million barrels, by far the largest contribution by any state during the review window.

This figure represented over a third of Nigeria’s total attributed crude and condensate production of 295.34 million barrels during the same period.

Following Delta in oil production were Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, and Rivers states, which have traditionally formed the backbone of Nigeria’s petroleum output. Akwa Ibom produced about 60.32 million barrels, while Bayelsa delivered roughly 53.2 million barrels during the period under consideration.

In the same vein, Rivers was only slightly behind Bayelsa with 50.83 million barrels. These four states alone accounted for nearly 90 per cent of the country’s oil output, underlining their significance in the sector.

However, Lagos State, which had been listed among Nigeria’s oil-producing states following marginal production from the Aje Field in the Dahomey Basin since 2016, recorded zero production of crude oil and gas within the period under review.