Nigeria's crude output rises to 2.09 mln bpd in 2018

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's crude oil production rose to 2.09 million barrels a day in 2018 compared with 1.86 million bpd the year before, the state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said.

Africa's largest oil producer, which is an OPEC member, relies on crude sales for around two-thirds of government revenue.

"Nigeria's crude oil daily production recorded an upward swing of about 2.09 million barrels in outgone 2018 ... compared with the 2017 average daily production of 1.86 million barrels," the NNPC said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Nigeria has maintained "a line of consistent year-on-year improvement", Group Managing Director Maikanti Baru said.

Baru told Reuters in November that the country was producing 1.6 million bpd of oil and 0.4 million bpd of condensate.

"We are talking about the average for the year and this includes the condensate," NNPC spokesman Ndu Ughamadu told Reuters in a phone interview when asked for details of the 2.09 million bpd production figure and the level of condensates.

(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Jan Harvey and Louise Heavens)