Fakoyejo OlalekanCrude oil price rose to $119.7 per barrel on Friday as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised Nigeria’s oil production quota, two years after the April 2020 increase, during the COVID-19 lockdown.
OPEC agreed to up Nigeria’s quota to 1.8 million barrels per day, from the 1.5 million bpd the country produced in recent years – although oil theft reduces terminal output to 1.35 million barrels.
The increase came after Prime Business Africa (PBA) on Tuesday reported that Nigeria could take advantage of the ban placed on Russian oil by the European Union, restricting 90% of the oil into EU countries.
The report by PBA had disclosed that the embargo could play in Nigeria’s favour, allowing the country to raise its oil output, which will in turn increase its revenue generated from the oil industry.
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Although, it was also stated that Nigeria raising its oil output means oil thieves will see a hike in revenue from stolen oil. The activities of the criminals had resulted to loss of N434 billion on the part of the Nigerian government within the first three months of 2022.
The recent increase in Nigeria’s oil production volume will take effect in July, when the country, alongside other OPEC and OPEC+ members, will jointly increase output by 648,000 barrels per day against initial levels of 400,000 bpd and subsequent 432,000bpd.
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