Nigeria lost 3.3m barrels to oil thieves in 2025 – NUPRC

Punch Nigeria · Damilola Aina · 2026-11-05 23:16 UTC

Nigeria lost 3.33 million barrels of crude oil to theft in 2025, contributing to a N2.14tn revenue decline, the NUPRC's annual report has revealed.

Nigeria lost 3.33 million barrels of crude oil to theft in 2025, with nearly two-thirds of the reported losses occurring in the final three months, as the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s revenue collection declined by N2.14tn, The PUNCH reports.

The commission’s 2025 annual report, released on Thursday, showed that crude oil and gas revenue collections fell from N12.56tn in 2024 to N10.42tn in 2025, representing a 17.03 per cent decline, despite increases in receipts from gas flare penalties, signature bonuses and concession rentals.

Data from the commission’s 2025 report showed that crude theft rose sharply in the fourth quarter, when 2.19 million barrels were recorded. This represented 65.8 per cent of the total volume reported for the year and was almost five times the 440,434 barrels recorded in the third quarter.

Read the full story at Punch Nigeria · All coverage of this story