By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said the average crude oil production in Nigeria, a member of the group, dried up by about 33,000 barrels per day in September 2024.
In a report released on Monday, the oil cartel disclosed that the nation’s average oil output for last month was about 1.405 million barrels per day compared with the 1.438 million barrels per day recorded in August 2024.
OPEC, which revealed this information in its Monthly Oil Market Report for October, said it got the data from the Nigerian authorities.
The organisation said the average output for its 12-member association went down to 26.044mbpd in the period under review versus the 26.648mbpd recorded a month earlier, while its non-members produced 14,060mbpd, higher than the 14,013mbpd recorded in the previous month.
“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.04 mb/d in September
2024, which is 604 tb/d lower, m-o-m. Crude oil output increased mainly in IR Iran and Kuwait, while production in Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia decreased.
“At the same time, total non-OPEC DoC crude oil production averaged 14.06 mb/d in September 2024,
which is 47 tb/d higher, m-o-m. Crude oil output increased mainly in Kazakhstan, while production in Russia decreased,” a part of the note stated.
The group said further that the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) value fell in September by $4.82 per barrel or 6.1 per cent to $73.59 per barrel, as the ICE Brent front-month contract dropped by $6.01 or 7.6 per cent to $72.87 per barrel in September, while NYMEX WTI dropped by $6.06 or 8.0 per cent to average $69.37 per barrel, with the GME Oman front-month contract losing $4.63 or 6.0 per cent to $72.91 per barrel, and the ICE Brent-NYMEX WTI first month spread rose by 5 cent in September versus $3.50 per barrel in August average.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka