Nigeria’s crude oil production declined by 130,000b/d in August to an average of 1.

44mb/d, as oil companies struggle to repair pipelines damaged by severe militant attacks, Vanguard reported.

While speaking at a one-day meeting with stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, blamed the decline in production on activities of vandals and militants in the Niger Delta, and further asked the government to engage the various host communities to develop a partnership framework to find a lasting solution to the present unrest, informed Channels Television.

Nigeria suffered the biggest decline among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The country’s oil output is expected to continue its decline into 2017, according to a report by the Energy International Administration, the statistical arm of the United States’ Energy Department.