Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped once again to 1,354 million barrels per day in March compared to 1,378 million barrels in February, according to the OPEC monthly Oil Market Report released on Tuesday.

The latest decline dashes earlier hopes that Africa’s top oil producer might be witnessing a significant growth in the sector. Hopes had gone high in January when Nigeria’s oil crude production jumped from 1,317 million barrels per day in December to 1,398 million. However, the production dropped by nearly 20,000 barrel a day the following month.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has recently released figures showing that condensates production also plummeted significantly, according to a report by This Daily Live.

The condensates production, the blended type, slumped from 74,231 in February to 62,500 barrels per day in March. Also, the unblended dropped from 208,651 in January to 191,154 barrels per day in February, reported the Lagos-based news website on Tuesday.

In 2020, the oil and gas sector accounted for nearly ten percent of the country’s GDP and petroleum exports revenues represented 86 percent of total exports revenues, according to the OPEC website.

In recent years, Nigeria has failed to meet its OPEC quota pegged at 1.8 million bpd. Last month, Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, reportedly cited the lack of investments in oil and gas sectors as the reason behind his country’s inability to meet its production targets. He also blamed vandalism and security challenges as factors that hamper the growth of the oil sector.

(Writing by Noha El Hennawy; editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaira@lseg.com)