OpeOluwani Akintayo
13 August 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Statistics obtained from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR for August, indicates that Nigeria’s oil rig count increased from 32 in June to 35 in July 2018.
Before the recent gain, Nigeria’s oil rigs had remained static at 32 since the first quarter of the year.
In 2015, the country had recorded 30 oil rig counts.
Then in 2016, it decreased to 25, and later 28 early 2017.
It again dropped to 27 third quarter 2017, and then 28 at the fourth quarter same year.
Other OPEC members such as Algeria currently has 45 oil rigs, Angola four, Ecuador 8 and Equatorial Guinea, two.
While the likes of Gabon has just four, Iran boasts of 61, Iraq 59, Kuwait 50, Libya 5, Qatar 9, Saudi Arabia has the highest with 148 rigs, the United Arab Emirates has 55, and Venezuela currently records 70.