Nigeria sees oil output increase by 11,000 bpd to 1.73m bpd in March

Nigeria’s oil production increased in March to 1.73 million barrels per day (bpd) despite efforts by Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to hold back output as part of measures to rein in global oversupply and bolster crude prices, the latest report from OPEC reveals.

According to independent sources, the 14-member OPEC said Nigeria’s crude oil production increased by 11,000 bpd to 1.73 million bpd in March 2019, from 1.72 million bpd recorded in February. Since 2018 and the first quarter 2019, Nigeria’s oil production has hovered around 1.7 million bpd compared to 1.6 million bpd in 2016.

Conversely, OPEC’s output fell by 534,000 bpd in March to 30.02 million bpd thanks to Saudi Arabia’s and Iraq’s willingness to aggressively cut production and a further drop in Venezuela’s sanction-hit supplies, according to independent sources cited by the group in its monthly report. This is the lowest since February 2015 when the group pumped 29.97 million bpd.

More than any other country, Africa’s biggest oil producing economy needs the oil price to rise and, in the worst case, remain steady at any price above the $60 benchmark of the 2019 budget. To achieve this, the country needs to avoid disruptions in crude production and also hope that the alliance under OPEC  achieves its objective, even though many are yet to comply with the output cut, including Nigeria, analysts say.

Source: Business Day