Nigeria Oil Output Rises to Record on Improved Security

Crude oil output in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer, reached an “all-time high” after security improved in the southern oil-producing Niger River delta region, Andrew Yakubu, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., said.

 Total production rose yesterday to 2.7 million barrels a day from 2.4 million barrels, he said in an e-mailed statement today from Abuja, the capital. 

“The security measures put in place by the federal government in the Niger Delta region was beginning to yield positive results,” Yakubu, who was appointed to the job in June, said in the statement. Security along oil pipelines and production facilities has been restored, he said. 

 Energy companies have stepped up production as attacks on installations in the delta declined following a 2009 government amnesty for militants in the region fighting for a greater share of oil resources. Attacks by armed groups cut more than 28 percent of the country’s output between 2006 and 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

At least 90 percent of the country’s oil is pumped by the state oil company, also known as NNPC, in joint ventures with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. (CVX), Total SA (FP) and Eni SpA. 

(ENI) Nigeria depends on oil exports for more than 80 percent of government revenue and 95 percent of foreign-exchange income. The West African nation earned $196 billion from oil and gas shipments in the four years through 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.