- Nigeria tops Africa crude oil producer for October 2023 – OPEC
BY FESTUS OKOROMADU, ABUJA
The House of Representatives on Monday issued three Federal Government agencies namely, the Nigerian Communication Commission, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and Industrial Training Fund, an ultimatum to explain how the total sum of N333 billion disappeared from their Treasury.
The Chairman, House Committee on Finance, James Faleke, gave the rulings during the continued hearing of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper when the agencies were unable to explain how the funds were utilised.
At the hearing on Monday, the management of ITF was unable to account for a total of N3 billion, the committee then issued a 48-hour ultimatum to account for the funds.
Similarly, the committee directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to explain within 72 hours why a company was licensed to provide meters.
The company was said to have received N39 billion from the Ministry of Power but still didn’t provide the meters.
The committee expressed concern that a company which seemingly lacks the capacity to execute the project was licensed.
It also asked the Nigerian Communication Commission to explain how it spent N291 billion in 2022 on broadband across the country as the committee questioned it on the details of the provision of the broadband services after the NCC said services were provided to airports and markets.
Nigeria tops Africa crude oil producer for October 2023 – OPEC
Meanwhile, data released by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Monday revealed that Nigeria is Africa’s top crude oil producer for October 2023.
The report puts Nigeria’s oil production figures aside from condensate production at 1.35 million barrels per day to the top four oil producers in Africa.
Nigeria was closely followed by Libya with 1.18 million barrels per day, Angola 1.14 million barrels per day, and Algeria 961,000 barrels per day
However, the total OPEC-13 countries produced an average of 27.90 million barrels per day in October 2023, higher by 80,000 barrels per day month-on-month.
The growth is attributed mainly to increased production by Angola, Iran and Nigeria, while Libya, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait recorded decreases during the period under review.
The oil cartel in the latest report, forecast a slight increase in the world’s oil demand in 2023, now standing at 2.5 million barrels per day.
Despite robust market fundamentals, the report highlighted a recent decline in oil prices.
This downward trend was primarily attributed to significant reductions in net long positions by financial market speculators throughout October.
Also, the OPEC report shed light on Nigeria’s escalating inflationary pressure, primarily stemming from the removal of petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the naira.
This resulted in a notable acceleration in the pace of inflation, with the rate spiking to 26.7 percent in September, a significant rise from August’s 25.8 percent.
The report further provided a quarterly breakdown of OPEC crude production against demand.
In the first quarter of 2023, OPEC crude production reached 28.8 mb/d, surpassing demand by 0.4 mb/d, moving to the second quarter, OPEC crude production slightly decreased to 28.3 mb/d, falling below demand by 0.1 mb/d.
The third quarter witnessed a more substantial reduction, with OPEC crude production averaging 27.6 mb/d, lagging demand by 1.0 mb/d.
Looking ahead to 2024, the demand for OPEC crude remains unchanged at 29.9 mb/d, indicating a rise of 0.8 mb/d compared to the estimated 2023 level.
Additionally, the report underscored a noteworthy development regarding petrol exports from Europe to West Africa.
