Oscarline Onwuemenyi
02 April 2015, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that there was an increase in the crude oil produced and exported by the country in January of this year, in spite of numerous handicaps including widespread vandalisation of crude pipelines and the global slump in price of oil.
It noted in a document obtained by our correspondent in Abuja that despite a 23.7 per cent fall in price, the amount of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude oil produced and exported in the month of January increased by 2.6 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively when compared with the figure for December 2014.
The Central Bank pointed out that the fall in oil price was not peculiar to the Bonny Light as the average prices of the country’s crude and all other competing crudes fell below their levels in the preceding month.
The document revealed that crude oil and natural gas production was estimated at an average of 1.95 million barrels per day, indicating an increase of 0.05mbd or 2.6 per cent above the average of 1.9 million bpd recorded in the month of December.
Similarly, crude oil export during the period under review increased by 3.5 per cent, while deliveries to refineries for domestic consumption remained at 13.95 million barrels.
According to the CBN, “Nigeria’s crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas liquids, was estimated at an average of 1.95 million barrels per day or 60.45 million barrels for the month (January). This was 0.05 mbpd or 2.6 per cent above the average of 1.90 mbpd or 58.90 million barrels produced in the preceding month.
“Crude oil export was estimated at 1.50 mbpd or 46.50 million barrels for the month. This represented an increase of 3.5 per cent above the 1.45 mbd recorded in the preceding month. Deliveries to the refineries for domestic consumption remained at 0.45 mbd or 13.95 million barrels during the review month.”
On global crude oil, the bank noted that the prices of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of 11 crude streams declined by 23.4 per cent in January, as against the average recorded in December.
The document further noted that, “At an estimated average of $48.21 per barrel, the price of Nigeria’s reference crude, the Bonny Light, fell further by 23.7 per cent below the level in the preceding month. The average prices of other competing crudes, namely: the West Texas Intermediate at $47.19 per barrel; the United Kingdom Brent at $47.46 per barrel; and the Forcados at $48.60 per barrel, also showed similar trends as the Bonny Light.
“The average price of OPEC’s basket of eleven crude streams, at $44.99 per barrel, indicated a decline of 24.3 and 57 per cent, compared with the $59.46 and $104.71 per barrel recorded in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2014, respectively.”
Global crude oil prices have recorded unprecedented declines since the third quarter of 2014, a development that prompted stringent austerity measures in various countries, including Nigeria.
