By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of Oil in Kuwait, Mr Issam Almarzooq, has disclosed that Nigeria and Libya may be asked to put a limit to their oil outputs having recorded stability in their countries lately.
The two countries were exempted from the oil cut deal reached in Austria last November by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The deal became effective from January 1, 2017 and by April this year, OPEC said the oil cut agreement was at 98 percent compliance level.
According to Bloomberg, Mr Almarzooq disclosed on the sidelines of an energy conference in Istanbul, Turkey, that the two African nations may be asked to cap their crude output.
Already, OPEC and non-OPEC producers have invited the two countries to a committee meeting taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 24.
At the meeting, they will discuss the stability of their production.
“We invited them to discuss the situation of their production,” Mr Almarzooq was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
“If they are able to stabilize their production at current levels, we will ask them to cap as soon as possible.
“We don’t need to wait until the November meeting to do that,” he said, referring to the upcoming OPEC meeting scheduled for November 30.
Crude oil production in Nigeria rose slightly above 2 million per barrels per day in June 2017. This was mainly because militant activities in the oil-Niger Delta region of the country was stopped after consultations with stakeholders.
