Nigeria pushes for higher OPEC quota

Guardian

21 March 2011

Nigeria pushes for higher OPEC quota  

THE Federal Government has concluded plans to place a fresh application, seeking review of the country’s oil export quota from Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The move was sequel to the relative peace experienced in the Niger Delta region, which has buoyed oil production in the hydrocarbon rich zone. This has however, been constrained by the quotas.

The Presidential Adviser on Energy Matters, Emmanuel Egbogah, who stated this recently, expressed optimism the cartel would be willing to accept the review.

Egbogah said Nigeria is ready to increase its oil production but is being held back by the OPEC quota, noting that it had been maintaining steady oil output of around 2.6 million barrels per day for the last year.

“Our installed oil capacity is 3.733 million barrels per day (bpd). We will definitely apply to review our quotas,” Egbogah told Reuters in Abuja.

Nigeria’s OPEC quota is presently marked at 1.8 million bpd. Meanwhile, the country’s crude oil output dropped 3.8 per cent in February at 2.098 million bpd, though it remained Africa’s top oil producer, outperforming Angola (1.704m bpd), Libya (1.347m bpd), and Algeria (1.261m bpd).

OPEC, in its March Monthly Oil Market Report, estimated the nation’s crude oil output at 2.098m barrels per day (bpd) in February, from 2.181m bpd in January, and 2.192m bpd in December.