The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, rose to the $80 per barrel mark on Tuesday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Russia-led partners approved another 400,000-barrels-per-day hike in production quotas.
Brent, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, jumped by $1.24 to $80.22 per barrel on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s oil production quota for January was increased to 1.68 million bpd from 1.67 million bpd in December.
The report said many economic indicators had remained positive, while global oil inventories had continued to decline as demand outpaced supply over the past several months.
But even before the rapid spread of omicron cases, many forecasters – including OPEC’s own analysts, had projected an oil oversupply throughout 2022, with weaker seasonal demand leading to a significant surplus in the first quarter.
An internal OPEC+ analysis reviewed by an advisory technical committee ahead of the decision indicated that the expected Q1 surplus would be 1.4 million bpd – much narrower than the group had forecast before its previous meeting in December.
Ministers will next convene February 2 to decide on March production levels.
