Good News for Nigeria as Brent Trades Above $60 Tuesday

By Adedapo Adesanya 

Things looked bright for Nigeria on Tuesday at the global oil market as the Brent Crude, which its oil is priced against, traded over the $60 benchmark, giving hopes that the Africa’s largest economy would be able to fully utilise its budget plans for this year.

Business Post reports that the Brent Crude traded at $61.28 per barrel as at 9 PM (Nigerian time) on Tuesday, indicating a $2.71 increase or by 4.63 percent rise to cross the threshold of $60.

Likewise, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude gained $2.13 or 3.88 percent yesterday night to trade at $57.

In addition, the Nigerian Bonny Light rose by 4.07 percent or $2.41 on Tuesday to sell at $61.56 per barrel on the international market, while the Nigerian Brass River rose by 1.29 percent or $0.76 to trade at $59.83 per barrel, with price of the Nigerian Qua Iboe also appreciating by 1.29 percent or $0.76 to go for $59.88 per barrel.

Reports that the United States has decided to delay the next round of tariffs that were to be imposed on Chinese goods was responsible for these increases, Business Post learned. The delay gives hope to a skittish market that the trade war really won’t go on forever.

Tuesday would be the fourth straight day of gains for the oil prices—the previous gain helped along by Saudi Arabia’s chat with other OPEC producers about what additional steps the group could take to stanch the price bleed that sought to undermine not only Saudi Arabia’s budget which relies heavily on oil, but its much-anticipated public listing of its crown jewel, Saudi Aramco.

Aramco’s valuation, which The Kingdom feels is $2 trillion, is dependent on oil prices. Analysts claim that this $2 trillion valuation is but a pipe dream, and that the real value of Aramco is at most $1.5 trillion.

In addition to the tariff delay, which will now go into force on December 15, the United States will also be taking some of the items on that tariff list off completely, according to its newest policy document released on Tuesday.

While the list hasn’t been made public, it will include items that will be removed “based on health, safety, national security, and other factors”.

The items that will be delayed until December include cellphones, laptops, toys, computer monitors, and some footwear and clothing items, according to reports.