Nigeria and other oil producing countries up their production as OPEC maintains its demand projection

Government Issues Additional Licences To Break The Monopoly On Gas Aggregation

According to OPEC figures, Nigeria increased production last month, albeit little, by 171,000 barrels after several months of low output. This is true even though the cartel’s crude oil production declined by an average of 744,000 barrels per day in November.

Additionally, in its most recent Monthly Oil Market Report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) yesterday maintained its key predictions for oil supply and demand (MOMR).

The lowest monthly average for Saudi Arabia since May 2022, its output dropped by the highest among its peers in November, by 404,000 bpd, to 10.474 million bpd.

Other countries that had large drops in output included Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq. The United Arab Emirates suffered a loss of 149,000 bpd in November, dropping to 3.037 million bpd. Kuwait saw a reduction of 121,000 bpd to 2.685 million bpd.

The overall average production rate for OPEC in November decreased to 28.826 million bpd, which is the lowest average production level since June.

In the opposite direction, Angola, Gabon, and Nigeria increased their production by a combined 132,000 bpd.

According to OPEC, the world’s oil demand will rise by 2.55 million barrels per day to 99.6 million this year before rising by 2.25 million barrels per day to 101.8 million in 2023.  “Expected geopolitical improvements and the containment of Covid-19 in China”  will promote growth in the upcoming year, the Cartel said.

OPEC issued a warning, noting that the current forecast is unchanged from last month since it “assumes the successful containment of COVID-19 and a return of pre-pandemic economic growth in China, while India’s oil consumption is predicted to be supported by ongoing healthy economic development.”

“As the year 2022 draws to a close, the recent global economic growth slowdown with all its far-reaching implications is becoming quite evident. The year 2023 is expected to remain surrounded by many uncertainties, mandating vigilance and caution,” the cartel warned.”

Even though it anticipates Beijing to eliminate Covid-related restrictions in the majority of regions by the end of March next year, OPEC projects that demand in China will increase by 530,000 b/d in 2023 after declining by a predicted 180,000 b/d this year.

The cartel also foresaw a number of obstacles for the world economy in the future, including additional monetary tightening by influential central banks in the event of persistently high inflation.

“Rising interest rates will be a cause for concern for countries with high sovereign debt levels,” it said. “Tight labour markets, amid calls for higher wages, will add pressure, as will continued supply chain issues.”

OPEC has largely maintained its estimates for oil supply; non-Opec supply is anticipated to rise by 1.89 million barrels per day this year and by 1.54 million barrels per day in 2023. While oil output in Russia and Mexico is anticipated to fall, the non-OPEC supply is expected to expand in 2019 thanks to the United States, Norway, Brazil, Canada, Kazakhstan, and Guyana.

The impact of the EU’s restriction on Russian oil imports and the potential for American shale output remain under “large uncertainties,” according to OPEC, which has underlined this. It predicts that Russian liquids production would decrease to 10.11 million b/d in 2023 from 10.96 million b/d this year, which is the same as the MOMR from last month.

The predicted call for crude among its own members is likewise substantially unchanged, coming in at 28.6 million barrels per day for 2022 and 29 million for 2023.

Subscribe to our newsletter for latest news and updates. You can disable anytime.