Nigeria’s oil output fell by 15% to 1.24million bpd in March – OPEC

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria’s oil output has again reduced by 15 percent to 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd) in March 2022.

OPEC, in its monthly oil market report (MOMR) for April 2022, indicated that Nigeria’s oil production reduced by 20 thousand barrels per day (tb/d) to 1.24 million bpd in March from 1.26 million in February 2022, based on direct communication.

The country also recorded a fall in its oil output by 24000 b/d to 1.35 million bpd recorded in March from the 1.38 million bpd recorded in the previous month, according to the secondary source.

OPEC uses secondary sources to monitor its oil output, but also publishes a table of figures submitted by its member countries.

According to secondary sources, total OPEC-13 crude oil production averaged 28.56 mb/d in March 2022, higher by 57 tb/d month-on-month (m-o-m).

“Crude oil output increased mainly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, while production in Libya, Nigeria and Congo declined,” the report noted.

Read also: Presco: Consolidating leadership position in oil palm agro-industry

According to estimates which are based on preliminary data from direct communication for non-OPEC supply, the share of OPEC crude oil in total global production decreased by 0.1 percentage point (pp) to 28.7 percent in March compared with the previous month.

“Demand for OPEC crude in 2021 is revised up by 0.1 million barrels per day from the previous month’s assessment to stand at 28.1 mb/d, which is roughly 5.0 mb/d more than in 2020,” it said.

However, it indicated that the demand for organisation crude in 2022, on the other hand, has been lowered by 0.1 mb/d from the previous month’s estimate to 29.0 mb/d, which is roughly 0.8 mb/d more than in 2021.

The report also showed that world oil demand growth for 2022 has been cut down by 0.5 mb/d to 3.7 mb/d, owing to a downward revision in global economic growth.

The report’s data also revealed the movement of crude oil spot prices, which grew for the third month in a row in March.

“The price of the OPEC Reference Basket rose $19.53, or 20.8 percent, to $113.48/b. Due to the unclear short-term oil supply and demand picture, oil futures prices experienced increased volatility,” it said.

Meanwhile, it was observed that the cost of Brent, the crude against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, increased by $5.46 to close at $103.9 per barrel as of 2.4 pm Nigerian time on Tuesday.