Jonathan Nwokpor
The largest producer of crude oil in Africa, Nigeria, was displaced in March by Libya.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ monthly oil report for March, which was released on Thursday, supports this.
According to the report, Nigeria’s production fell to 1.23 million bpd, a difference of 5,000 barrels, while Libya’s production averaged 1.236 million barrels per day.
According to OPEC, Nigeria’s crude production in March 2024 was 92,000 barrels less than in February 2024 (1.32 million barrels per day).
However, OPEC said that the nation’s crude oil production in March was 1.39 million barrels per day, down 38,000 barrels per day from 1.43 million barrels.
March had the lowest crude oil production in the nation this year, coming in below the 2024 budget’s benchmark production of 1.78 million barrels per day.
According to the report, Saudi Arabia continued to be the largest oil producer among OPEC members, with an average daily production of 8.97 million barrels—a decrease of 39,000 barrels—on average. After the United Arab Emirates with 2.91 million barrels per day and the Kingdom with 3.9 million barrels per day, Iraq came next.
The OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) had a monthly increase of $2.99, or 3.7%, in value in March, culminating in an average price per barrel of $84.22. In a similar vein, the price of oil futures increased.
While the front-month contract for NYMEX WTI grew by $3.80, or 5.0 per cent, month over month to average $80.41 per barrel, the front-month contract for ICE Brent increased by $2.95, or 3.6 per cent, month over month to $84.67 per barrel.
Following the cartel’s agreement to maintain the production quota, the oil price for Brent crude increased to about $90 per barrel.
Comparably, the price of Nigeria’s Bonny light crude increased from $85.65 in February 2024 to $87.86 per barrel in March 2024.
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