Nigeria Agrees to Cut Oil Production to Stabilise Crude Supply Market

Nigeria has agreed to cut its Organisation of Petroleum Organisation (OPEC) crude production, to ensure global oil market stability, a statement by the country’s delegation to the meeting in Vienna, has said.

Alongside other African countries which have struggled in the last few years to meet their production quota, the delegation stressed that the country’s output will now be hinged on its highest volume in the last six months which is 1.38 million barrels per day.

“Nigeria alongside other OPEC and Non-OPEC members at the JMMC meeting agreed to  cut production volumes in order to ensure global oil market stability.

“Furthermore, Nigeria, Congo and Angola have agreed that the highest production volumes of the last six months (November 2022 – April 2023)  be used as the basis for the determination of their 2024 production quota,” the statement added.

The country has recently blamed massive oil theft as well as years of underinvestment for the development, but has since August last year moved to end the menace by ramping up security in the Niger Delta.

“ Nigeria’s highest production of crude oil only of 1383KBD was achieved in February 2023. OPEC has also agreed to allow these countries to continue to produce maximally to their OPEC quota of 2023.

“This implies that Nigeria can ramp up its production up to its current quota of 1742KBD and subsequently be capped at 10 per cent less as its quota for 2024 subject to verification by independent secondary sources,” it stated.

Besides , the Nigerian delegation said it was confident that the ongoing security intervention under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu will enable the restoration of the country’s production to the tune of 1580KBD crude oil.

“This will be complimented by condensate of about 400KBD. This will ultimately enable Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production of about 2 million barrels per day in 2024,” the delegation said.