…As oil production continues decline
OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The oil sector of Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, experienced a decline by approximately 14% last year.
This was revealed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, in its Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR, for December 2020.
According to the report, Nigeria’s oil sector fell by 13.9% compared with a 6.6% decline in the second quarter of same year.
The report said the country’s non-oil economic activities declined by 2.5% y-o-y. This is a slight recovery from the 6.1% y-o-y decline seen in 2Q 2020.
Nigeria’s real GDP, according to the report, declined by 3.6% y-o-y in 3Q 2020 after seeing a 6.1% y-o-y contraction in 2Q 2020. This was the second recession in the country in four years, resulting from a nationwide lockdown implemented in response to the current pandemic.
The GDP grew 12.1% on a quarterly basis – the highest quarterly growth seen since 2Q10 and a sharp recovery from the 5% contraction seen in 2Q20.
OPEC said inflationary pressure continued to challenge Nigeria’s economy, as the Consumer Price Index, CPI, rose to 14.2% y-o-y in October from 13.71% in September, due to inflated food prices caused by the adverse effects of the earlier border closures.
Like most countries around the globe, particularly commodity producers, OPEC said outlook for Nigeria’s economy remained challenged by COVID-19 developments and developments in oil prices, along with domestic inflationary pressures and fiscal constraints.
OPEC said the country’s oil production has kept declining with 1.329 million barrels per day recorded in November.
A production of 1.329b/d in November is lesser than 1.347 million barrels per day, mb/d, recorded in October.
Total output of 1.332mb/d was recorded as at September 20, while 1.351mb/d was declared in the third quarter of 2020.
The production decline which began in the third quarter of last year saw the country’s output fall between 1.5mb/d and 1.7mb/d from 2018 and the first quarter of 2020.
