Nigeria’s average daily crude oil and condensate production decreased from the 2mb/d recorded February production to be 1.6mb/d in March, All Africa reported.

According to data from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the decline in crude oil production is due to the regular maintenance work that was going on at the 250,000b/d capacity Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) owned by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), The Guardian informed.

An increase in production is expected in Nigeria’s crude oil output in the next months as SNEPCo announced that it has finished its turnaround maintenance at the 225,000b/d Bonga FPSO in April.

SNEPCo’s Managing Director, Bayo Ojulari stated, “The plan is to successfully conclude the ramp of activities and resume production as planned in April 2017.”

This current production shows a decrease by 600,000b/d from the 2.2mb/d, which the Federal Government was planning to achieve as a benchmark for production in its 2017 budget.

At the current price of $53 per barrel of Brent crude oil, the reduction in production will lead Nigeria to lose about $38.1m daily.