Nigeria’s Production Rises Most Among OPEC in December

• Nigeria’s Production Rises Most Among OPEC in December

Nigeria’s crude oil production rose the most among the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in December.

OPEC, in its Oil Market Report for January, said Nigeria’s oil production rose from 1.579 million barrels per day in November to 1.797 million bpd in December.

Oil production increased by 72,000 barrels to 2.803 million bpd in Kuwait, while Venezuela managed to increase output by 47,000 barrels during the same month.

Africa’s second largest producer after Nigeria, Angola, production rose by 28,000 barrels to 1.445 million bpd in December. Iraq added 10,000 to take its production to 4.465 million bpd in December.

OPEC’s average production stood at 31.58 million barrels in December, a decline of 751,000 bpd from November. Still far below the 1.2 million barrels a day the cartel agreed to cut in order to boost price in 2019 and suggest the group may struggle to meet its 1.2 mbpd targets.

According to the report, output declined mostly in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

In a related report, oil price dropped by almost two per cent on Tuesday as concerns over slowing growth in China weighed on oil outlook after a report showed the world’s second-largest economy grew at 6.6 per cent in 2018, the lowest in 28 years.

The Brent Crude, against which Nigerian crude is measured, fell from $63.11 a barrel to $61.50.