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Nigeria's crude production reached a 74-month high last month, authorities said over the weekend, averaging 1.56 million barrels per day, or 104 per cent of its OPEC quota.

Africa's largest oil producer has increased production in recent years, in part by cracking down on theft and by hiring former militants who sabotaged pipelines to serve as security.

As foreign oil majors -- dogged by pollution scandals in the Niger Delta -- have shifted focus from onshore projects to offshore extraction, local firms have stepped in.

"The improved performance was primarily driven by stable production operations across most producing assets and the absence of major pipeline outages during the period under review," the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said late Sunday.

With condensates, oil production averaged 1.74 million barrels per day in June, according to the NUPRC.

The government maintains a target of two million barrels per day.

Although the West African country's oil production has historically been hampered by pipeline theft and allegations of state corruption and mismanagement, the June figures mark the highest recorded crude production since April 2020.