Oil price went up by more than one percent yesterday, nearing $50 a barrel, but Nigeria will receive less from the 2016 boom due to the lower production in recent times.
Reuters said the price of Brent crude Wednesday was up 76 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $49.39 a barrel in late afternoon trading on expectations the U.S. government will report a large crude stockpiles drawdown for last week.
The attack on the crude oil pipelines by the new militants group called Niger Delta Avengers led Nigeria’s crude oil production declined to 1.4 million barrels from an average of 2.2 million barrels per day last year.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, said, last week, while appearing before a special session of the House of Representatives convened over the recent hike in petrol price that the decline translated to a loss of about 800,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
On Tuesday, Eni, parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), declared force majeure on oil exports from the Brass Oil Export Terminal off Bayelsa shoreline due to the attack on its pipeline weekend.
Force majeure absolves companies from liabilities of contractual obligations due to factors outside its control.
Eni, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), also said the oil firm’s production was cut by 4,200 barrels per day, following Sunday’s attack on its pipeline in Bayelsa.
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Credit: All Africa
