OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Following allegation of low-compliance with the ongoing OPEC cuts, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva says the country’s commitment has reached 52 percent.
In several tweets on Wednesday, Sylva said Nigeria joined its other OPEC+ partners in April 2020 to bring into effect the agreement to cut 9.7 million barrels of crude daily.
This, he said, was to ameliorate the current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said, “Nigeria has made concerted efforts to adhere to this commitment and will continue to do so unequivocally.
“Based on current NNPC data, Nigeria reduced its current production in May 2020 to 1.613kbd. The difference between its reference production of 1.829kbd with its May 2020 production figures is 216kbd.
“This represents compliance of about 52 per cent as opposed to the 19 per cent reported by Thompson Reuters.”
The minister added, “Pertinent to note is the figures reported by TR include Agbami and Akpo condensate streams which are classified as condensates and thus excluded for quota purposes.”
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Sylva explained that due to the OPEC+ agreement, the country’s current crude oil production has since dropped.
He said, “It is worthy to note that current daily crude oil production is well below the period commitment level of 1.412 million barrels per day and will translate to full compliance by end of June 2020.
“Nigeria will continue to fully comply with the agreement and look forward to improving on its compliance levels for the lifespan of this historic intervention by OPEC+”
OPEC+ is due to meet this week having shifted meeting earlier scheduled to hold from June 9-11.