Nigeria and most other members of the oil cartel, OPEC+ would faces challenges to quickly pump more oil if a decision was taken to do so, according to the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari.
That “may not be very, very realisable” and the financing needed for more development is lacking, Mele Kyari, head of Nigeria’s state oil corporation said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday.
Kyari added, “even if we were to move, it probably could be a bit difficult to do that.”
Nigeria has consistently failed to meet its OPEC production quota after years of lack of investment and the continent’s largest producer is unable now to take full advantage of rising crude oil prices.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, have signaled they will resist calls to pump faster.
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That’s left the Biden administration considering a release from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to tackle soaring U.S. gasoline prices.
Such a release by the U.S. would likely have a marginal and short-term effect, according to Kyari. “Obviously there has to be significant releases from the SPR for it to make any meaningful change,” he said.
OPEC+ next meets on December 2 after crude oil prices climbed about 60% this year to $80 a barrel. Several energy executives and leaders such as Vladimir Putin are saying they could get to $100.
Oil prices will probably hold above $80 a barrel, while the $100 mark is “within sight,” Kyari said.
Production is steadily returning in Nigeria, he said. By the end of the year, oil output should reach as much as 1.8 million barrels a day, and would easily hit 2 million barrels when condensate — a light hydrocarbon — is included in the total.
