Oil price rises to $76 a barrel ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Oil prices rose on Friday ahead of the meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ministers and their allies.

Brent crude rose 2.33 percent to $76.01 a barrel at 15:50 pm WAT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased 2.30 percent at $71.69 a barrel.

In April, member countries of the oil cartel announced a production cut of over 1.16 million barrels per day.

OPEC and its allies are unlikely to further engage in oil supply cuts in the forthcoming meeting, according to sources cited by Reuters.

Meanwhile, markets were reassured by a bipartisan deal to suspend the limit on the U.S. government’s $31.4 billion debt ceiling, which prevented sovereign default that would have shocked global financial markets, Reuters reported.

Earlier signals of a potential pause in rate hikes by the Federal Reserve also provided support to oil prices.

Nigeria, an integral member of OPEC+, has not been able to meet its voluntary production quota of 1.74 million barrels for the longest time. 

In April 2023, the country’s oil output fell to 998,602 barrels per day (bpd), a 21.26 percent decline compared to March, when output was 1,268,202 bpd.

Consequently, Angola replaced Nigeria as Africa’s biggest producer, with production averaging 1.06 million barrels per day in April, according to OPEC’s latest monthly report.