Nigeria’s oil output has risen to between 1.6 million and 1.7 million barrels per day after the government beefed up security to curb crude theft, Chief of Naval Staff Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla said on Tuesday.
“We have stepped up surveillance and enforcement in the oil producing areas,” the naval chief said.
“Right now, as we speak, the Nigerian Navy has 12 vessels on the sea to protect oil production and stem oil theft. We have arrested over 16 vessels, so far.”
Ogalla said the force had blocked channels for the sale of illegally refined petroleum products.
The country’s oil minister Heineken Lokpobiri said in May that Nigeria could produce 6 million barrels of oil per day with adequate investment in its energy sector.
