Economy
Crude Oil Slips as Saudi Arabia Eyes Production Expansion
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices went down on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia signaled a move towards producing more and expanding its market share amid the continued trade war eroding the outlook for fuel demand.
Brent crude futures declined by $1.13 or 1.76 per cent during the session to $63.12 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped $2.21 or 3.66 per cent to close at $58.21 a barrel.
The month of April 2025 was the lowest settlement for crude prices since March 2021, with Brent shedding 15 per cent and WTI losing 18 per cent, the biggest monthly percentage declines since November 2021.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s biggest oil producers, signaled it was unwilling to prop up the oil market with further supply cuts and could handle a prolonged period of low prices.
This marks a big shift after the Middle East kingdom spent the last five years balancing the market through deep output as a leader of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+).
Earlier, Saudi Arabia pushed for a larger-than-planned OPEC+ output hike in May, a decision that helped send oil prices below $60 a barrel to a 4-year low, in addition to President Donald Trump’s policy shifts.
Since OPEC+ establishes targets to keep supply and demand balanced in oil markets, Saudi Arabia has reportedly been angered by Kazakhstan and Iraq producing above their targets.
Saudi Arabia has a very low cost of production but it needs higher oil prices to pay its spending and when oil prices fall, many large oil-producing countries come under pressure to cut their budgets.
Saudi Arabia needs oil prices above $90 to balance its budget, higher than other large OPEC producers such as the United Arab Emirates, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Since OPEC+ is cutting output by over 5 million barrels or 5 per cent of global supply, to which Saudi Arabia is contributing around 40 per cent, plans to boost its production, this signals a worry for the market.
The group will meet on May 5 to discuss output plans.
The market continue to express concerns over the global economy weakening continued to pressure oil prices.
President Donald Trump’s announced tariffs on all US imports on April 2 and China responded with its own levies, stoking a trade war between the world’s top two oil-consuming nations.
US crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week on higher export and refinery demand, limiting some price losses.
Crude inventories fell by 2.7 million barrels to 440.4 million barrels in the week ended April 25, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further appreciated against the US Dollar on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, by 0.48 per cent or N7.69 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) retained the benchmark interest rate at 27.50 per cent.
During the trading session, the exchange rate closed at N1,591.25/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s value of N1,598.94/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency gained N10.79 against the Pound Sterling yesterday in the official market to sell for N2,126.60/£1 versus Monday’s price of N2,137.29/£1 and chalked up N7.51 on the Euro to finish at N1,791.49/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,799.00/€1.
In the black market, the Nigerian currency maintained stability against the Dollar during the session to quote at N1,625/$1.
At the end of the 300th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) was left at 27.50 per cent, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) remained at 50 per cent, and the Liquidity Ratio (LR) was kept at 30 per cent.
In addition, the Governor of the CBN, Mr Yemi Cardoso, said the Naira is stable and more competitive in the FX market, indicating stability for the Nigerian economy.
In the cryptocurrency market, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 2.5 per cent to trade at $0.7549, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.2278, Bitcoin (BTC) increased its value by 1.4 per cent to end at $107,038.79, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 1.2 per cent to finish at $655.82, Ethereum (ETH) increased by 0.7 per cent to $2,557.02, and Solana (SOL) went up by 0.6 per cent to close at $169.02.
On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) recorded a 0.8 per cent depreciation to settle at $95.07, and Ripple (XRP) slumped by 0.2 per cent to $2.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchange at $1.00 apiece.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The crude oil market was down on Tuesday due to uncertainty in US-Iran negotiations and Russia-Ukraine peace talks, with Brent futures losing 16 cents or 0.2 per cent to settle at $65.38 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures sliding by 13 cents or 0.2 per cent to $62.56 per barrel.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mr Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said US demands that it stop enriching uranium are “excessive and outrageous,” leading to doubts whether talks on a new nuclear deal will succeed.
Iran is the third-largest producer among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) behind Saudi Arabi and Iraq.
A deal between Iran and the US would allow Iran to raise oil exports by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day if sanctions were eased.
The European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom announced new sanctions against Russia without waiting for the US to join them.
This development came a day after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin without winning a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Ukraine wants the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies to reduce their price cap on Russian seaborne oil to $30 per barrel. The current G7 cap, imposed over Russia’s war in Ukraine, is $60.
Market analysts believe that the war wouldn’t end soon, but believe that more negotiations will take place.
If a deal is reached, it could allow Russia, a member of OPEC and its allies known as OPEC+, to export more oil to the world.
Meanwhile new government data delivered a cautious outlook for top crude-importer China’s economy.
Data showed decelerating industrial output growth and retail sales in China piled more pressure on oil prices.
US crude oil stocks rose last week while gasoline (petrol) and distillate inventories fell, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API) figures on Tuesday.
Crude stocks in the US, the world’s biggest oil consumer, rose by 2.5 million barrels in the week ended May 16, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Investors are also looking ahead to government US oil stock data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) later on Wednesday.
Also, Kazakhstan’s oil production rose by 2 per cent in May, an increase that defies pressure from OPEC+ on the country to reduce its output.
By Dipo Olowookere
The stock market marginally increased by 0.03 per cent on Tuesday after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decided to retain the benchmark interest rate at 27.50 per cent to monitor the effect of the recent drop in inflation.
The rebound at Customs Street yesterday occurred amid a pocket of profit-taking in key sectors of the market, especially in the banking space.
Data showed that the industrial goods sector shed 1.25 per cent, the consumer goods industry fell by 0.87 per cent, the commodity counter depreciated by 0.22 per cent, and the banking index went down by 0.14 per cent.
However, the gains recorded by the insurance and energy sectors lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as they respectively closed higher by 1.41 per cent and 0.25 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) improved by 32.64 points to 109,730.47 points from 109,697.83 points, and the market capitalisation jumped by N21 billion to N68.966 trillion from N68.945 trillion.
During the session, the market participants bought and sold 487.1 million stocks worth N13.0 billion in 18,587 deals compared with the 486.1 million stocks valued at N11.4 billion traded in 24,883 deals a day earlier, indicating a shortfall in the number of deals by 25.30 per cent, and a leap in the trading volume and value by 0.21 per cent and 14.04 per cent, respectively.
Fidelity Bank witnessed increased activity yesterday, ostensibly because of the recent news report about a judgement debt from the Supreme Court.
Despite the clarification made by the lender concerning the issue, it came under selling pressure on Tuesday, with 60.2 million units sold for N1.1 billion to lead the activity chart.
UBA transacted 36.4 million units worth N1.3 billion, Custodian Investment traded 35.6 million units valued at N698.8 million, Tantalizers exchanged 27.6 million units for N76.4 million, and United Capital traded 26.7 million units worth N496.4 million.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment was weak during the trading day, with a negative market breadth after the bourse ended with 31 price gainers and 32 price losers.
The trio of Regency Alliance, Tripple G, and Nestle Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for 66 Kobo, N2.20, and N1464.10 apiece, as Tantalizers appreciated by 9.88 per cent to N2.78 and Multiverse improved by 9.60 per cent to N9.70.
On the flip side, Berger Paints depreciated by 9.98 per cent to N21.20, Mutual Benefits shed 9.80 per cent to settle at 92 Kobo, ABC Transport tumbled by 9.77 per cent to N2.40, Aradel Holdings crashed by 8.55 per cent to N460.00, and Caverton lost 7.09 per cent to trade at N3.80.
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