By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria missed its crude oil output target for January 2022, pumping about 87 per cent or 1.46 million barrels per day as against the 1.683 million barrels per day quota it was given by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
In 2020, to control the price of crude oil at the global market, OPEC decided to cut production and its members were given output targets and lately, they have been returning parts of the cuts.
Last month, Nigeria was unable to meet its OPEC quota and has been experiencing shut ins due to pipeline vandalism, community interferences, sabotage of oil facilities, among others.
OPEC’s 13 members increased production by only 50,000 barrels a day in December as slight gains across the group were wiped out by a 140,000 barrel-a-day decline in Libya, according to a survey by Bloomberg.
It was revealed that they pumped 28.14 million barrels a day in total.
The figures are based on ship-tracking data, information from officials and estimates from consultants including Rystad Energy AS and JBC Energy Gmb.
The 10 OPEC nations participating in an accord, since Venezuela, Iran, and Libya are exempted, with non-members such as Russia increased by 160,000 barrels a day, about two-thirds of the targeted amount.
The full 23-country OPEC+ coalition is expected to approve the return of 400,000 barrels a day for March, though that too is beset by technical difficulties. They are expected to rubber-stamp the revival of more halted supplies when they gather later today.
Widespread difficulties in restoring supplies increasingly place the burden on the group’s Gulf nations: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq and Kuwait.
This is also worrying traders due to the spare capacity they hold to cover any disruptions, whether deeper losses in Libya or another attack like last month’s drone strike in Abu Dhabi.
The North African nation was stricken with a blockade of its western fields by militias, forcing the closure of its biggest reservoir, Sharara while UAE is facing rising geo-political tensions in the Middle East region.
Dipo Olowookere