The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) estimates that Nigeria’s crude oil production slightly increased to 1.258 million barrels per day (b/d) in January 2023, up at least 23,000 from the 1.235 million b/d in December 2022. (OPEC).
Nigeria’s rig count, a sign of ongoing oil exploration, increased to 13 in January of this year.Examination of the February 2023 OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), which was received yesterday, revealed that production of crude oil rose mostly in Nigeria, Angola, and Kuwait while falling in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Islamic Republic of Iran.
Further examination of the OPEC record that was gleaned from direct contact with the 13 member nations shows that Nigeria’s crude oil production at 1.258m b/d is still ahead of its peers in Africa. Angola came second having produced 1.105m b/d and Algeria having 1.012m b/d in January.
While Libya has not produced oil since 2021, Congo produced 275,000 b/d for the month. Equatorial Guinea produced 55,000 b/d and no record for Gabon in January but it produced 189,000 b/d in December 2022.
Saudi Arabia leads OPEC in terms of oil production with 10.453 million barrels per day, followed by Iraq with 4.331 million and the United Arab Emirates with 3.038 million.The average price of crude oil in the OPEC basket increased little in January by $1.94, from $79.68 in December 2022 to $81.62 in January 2023.
However, over the time period under consideration, crude production decreased by 0.05%, from 28.93 billion b/d to 28.88 billion b/d.Nigeria’s oil production activity indicator, the rig count, increased in January from the 12 units recorded in December 2022 by one.
Moreover, Nigeria continued to have the most oil rigs in Africa, followed by Angola with nine units.The total number of rigs operating across all 13 OPEC countries fell by two in January, from 400 to 398 units, indicating lower oil production. However, the global rig count increased by 72 units from 1,911 units in December 2022 to 1,982 units in January with most of the rigs for oil drilling while few were for gas drilling.
On economic growth, OPEC stated that Nigeria’s economy is seeing a sharp increase in inflation, as well as rising interest rates and a decreasing momentum in the private sector, which will cause a slowdown in household consumption.
The report also noted that the inflation rate, which had surged to its highest level in 17 years in December 2022, reaching 21.5%, had stayed essentially steady at 21.3%. Due to regional shortages of food and fuel, this has occurred. Over the most of the year, the rate displayed a trend of continuous growth.
OPEC observed that the Stanbic IBTC Bank total economy PMI declined to 53.5 in January from 54.6 in December on the back of strong manufacturing, down from 54.3 in November 2022.
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