Nigeria will lose as much as 226,300,000 million barrels of oil in 2019, following the decision of the Organiation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce the country’s production quota to 1.6 million barrels per day. The new benchmark takes effect this January.
Beginning from this month, OPEC members will reduce production by 800,000 barrels per day(bpd), while non-OPEC producing countries will cut production by 400,000 bpd bringing total oil cuts to 1.2 million bpd.
The move by OPEC to cut Nigeria’s crude oil production to 1.68 million bpd for the first half of 2019 is part of efforts by the cartel to stabilize and strengthen crude oil prices at the international oil market.
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Nigeria with a daily production quota of 2.3 million (though never attained) had its production quota slashed to 1.68 million by the cartel in December.
The slash in the country’s production figure represents about 620,000 barrels per day, which when multiplied by 365 days, translates to the above figure of 226,300,000 million for 2019.
President Muhamadu Buhari, had in the 2019 Appropriation Bill submitted to a joint session of the National Assembly proposed a 2.3 million daily oil production at a budget benchmark price of $60.
Energy and economic experts have described as unrealistic the proposed oil and production benchmark for the 2019 budget.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, said on December 7 ahead of the OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria that it was very difficult for Nigeria to reduce its crude oil production.
