By Adedapo Adesanya
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) has increased Nigeria’s oil output to 1.829 million barrels per day after agreeing on Sunday to restore all of the production cuts earlier put in place when the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.
The group also agreed to increase output by 400,000 barrels per day each month starting from August 2021 until the phasing out of 5.8 million barrels per day production adjustment in December 2021.
The new quota, which showed an increase of 30.6 per cent when compared to the 1.4 million barrels per day, excluding condensate, currently being produced by Nigeria, will take effect from 2022.
The alliance in a statement after yesterday’s meeting said participating countries reaffirmed “the framework of the declaration of cooperation, signed on December 10, 2016, and further endorsed in subsequent meetings, including on April 12, 2020. Extend the decision of the 10th OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting (April 2020) until December 31, 2022”.
The statement added that the organisation would continue to adhere to the mechanism to hold monthly OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meetings for the duration of the Declaration of Cooperation, to assess market conditions and decide on production level adjustments for the following month, endeavouring to end the production adjustment by the end of September 2022 subject to market conditions.
The statement also said OPEC decided to adjust as from May 1, 2022, the baseline for the calculations of the production adjustments.
This put the rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to an end as the baseline increases were given to four of OPEC’s member states and one non-OPEC state beginning in May of 2022: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Russia.
The UAE’s baseline for oil production will be raised from 3.16 million barrels per day to 3.5 million barrels per day, though short of the 3.8 million it reportedly initially requested. Saudi Arabia’s baseline will be increased from 11 million to 11.5 million barrels per day.
Although much of the developing world is still fighting surges in coronavirus, wealthier nations including the US and parts of Europe have seen a rapid resumption in economic activity and increasing demand for crude, as well as price increases, shortages and supply bottlenecks.
OPEC said last week it expects the world’s appetite for crude to rise by 3.3 million barrels a day to average 99.9 million barrels a day next year, about the same level of demand before the pandemic. The group will reassess market conditions in December.
The organisation will hold its next OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting, the 20th edition, on September 1, 2021.
