Ahead of a crucial OPEC+ meeting that will deliberate on how much oil Africa’s largest crude producer should seek to pump next year, Nigeria is increasing its output objectives.
As of November 17, Nigeria was producing 1.7 million barrels of crude and condensates per day; by the end of the year, Olufemi Soneye, chief corporate communications officer at the country’s national oil company, NNPC, told Reuters, the country hopes to reach 1.8 million bpd.
He said the goal is to achieve 2.5 million bpd in the following years. The nation plans to increase its output of petroleum and condensate to around 2 million bpd by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) and its partners unexpectedly postponed a ministerial meeting on Wednesday, November 30.
Given that production has been growing and demand has been declining, they were anticipated to prolong or deepen output restrictions in 2024 at the conference. Recently, oil prices have dropped significantly.
OPEC countries Angola, Congo, and Nigeria are reportedly having difficulty reaching a consensus on output levels and, as a result, may have to make output decreases before the meeting scheduled for November 26.
Following years of not fulfilling the prior objectives, the three African producers were handed lower ones in an OPEC+ meeting in June.
Nigeria’s production target for 2024 was lowered from 1.74 million to 1.38 million bpd. Still, if three independent consultancies can verify the country’s ability to produce at this level, a higher target of 1.58 million bpd would be granted.
