Barkindo: $1trn oil revenue lost by OPEC members in two years

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria and oil-producing members lost about $1 trillion in revenue within two years.

Sanusi Barkindo, secretary-general of OPEC, disclosed this at the 2021 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit, which held in Abuja on Monday.

Barkindo said the loss was as a result of the plunge in oil prices between 2015 and 2016.

He said the fall in oil revenue affected government spendings and investments during the period.

The OPEC boss added that exploration and production spending fell by 25 per cent, amounting to above $300 billion, in both 2015 and 2016.

“In terms of foregone revenues to OPEC member countries during this oil cycle, collectively about $1 trillion was lost as a consequence of the plunge in prices in 2015 and 2016,” he said.

“No member country of OPEC was insulated from such a contraction in oil revenues during this cycle. This had a severe impact on the resources available to the government to pursue its development programmes.”

On the dip in oil revenue in 2020, Barkindo said the situation was aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic which impacted global oil demand.

He said developing economies were most affected as several jobs were lost during the period.

“Similarly, the 2020-21 recession was also caused by extraneous factors far beyond Nigeria’s borders. The devastating spread of COVID-19 severely impacted global oil demand and, again, developing economies were exposed,” he said.

“There were significant job losses across the industry, as well as increasing financial and operational stresses for many companies.

“In fact, a record number of companies in our industry filed for bankruptcy.”