Nigeria increases oil output despite proposed production cuts

Nigeria, Libya and Iraq have increased their crude oil production output despite the production cut to be finalized by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on November 30.

In the monthly report released by the organization, OPEC’s crude oil production climbed to  33.64 mb/d in October.

“OPEC crude oil production in October increased by 0.24 mb/d compared to the previous month to average 33.64 mb/d,” the report read.

“Crude oil output increased the most in Nigeria, Libya and Iraq, while production in Angola showed the largest decline.”

According to the report, Nigeria’s production increased to 1.62 million barrels per day as against 1.45 million in September.

OPEC said its 14 members produced a total of 33.64 million barrels a day, increasing its September production by 236,000 barrels.

Angola, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are some of the countries that experienced a fall in crude oil production in September with Angola recording the largest loss.

The production cut accord is expected to be finalised in Vienna at the 171st ordinary meeting of OPEC conference.

Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar’s minister of Energy and Industry, said that ministers thought there was a need to have a production band — in the small range of 32.5 to 33m b/d — in order to give flexibility to the technical team appointed to “dig deeply into the market situation and determine the most appropriate figure within that range.