Nigeria lost crude oil valued at a staggering N8.41tn to theft and metering deficiencies between 2021 and July 2025, according to the latest data sourced from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Although the regulator celebrated recent progress in reducing daily losses to their lowest levels in nearly 16 years, experts warn that the cumulative economic toll remains devastating and exposes governance failures in the oil sector.
NUPRC’s analysis showed that Nigeria lost 37.6 million barrels of crude in 2021, 20.9 million barrels in 2022, 4.3 million barrels in 2023, 4.1 million barrels in 2024, and 2.04 million barrels between January and July 2025.