The resumption of oil export from Forcados terminal  and increase in oil production has made Nigeria to regain its position as the major oil producer in Africa,  surpassing Angola, its main rival.

In May, Nigeria’s crude production rose to 1.68 million bpd, the highest level in more than one year up from 1.404 million bpd in the previous month. This followed the restart of Forcados loadings for the first time since October 2016.

According to the latest data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Nigeria, which had lost its position as Africa’s top oil producer status to Angola in January after it regained it in November last year, recorded the biggest increase in output among its peers in the OPEC last month.

OPEC, in its Monthly Oil Market Report for June 2017, published on Tuesday for nine months Nigeria was behind its southern African counterpart in oil production because of  the resurgence of militant attacks on oil facilities in the Nigeria in 2016.

Rising output from Nigeria, Libya and the North Sea kept the Atlantic basin well supplied with light sweet crude.

OPEC, which uses secondary sources to monitor its oil output, but also publishes a table of figures submitted by its member-countries, said the group’s total production in May averaged 32.14 million bpd, showing an increase of 336,000 bpd over the previous month.

“Crude oil output increased the most in Libya, Nigeria and Iraq, while production in Angola and the United Arab Emirates showed the largest declines,” it said.

Nigeria’s crude oil exports are set to reach 1.84 million bpd in July, slightly higher month-on-month, because of a recovery in Forcados exports, according to loading programmes compiled by Reuters on Wednesday.

Forcados exports resumed at the end of May after a nearly complete shutdown since February 2016. The grade’s operator, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, issued an initial June schedule of 197,000 bpd before increasing it to 252,000 bpd.

– June 15, 2017 @ 7:22 GMT /