- Curbs pushed crude prices to their highest since 2014 NNPC seeks quick execution of capital tasks
Chineme Okafor in Abuja with agency report
Member countries of the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their major ally, the Russian
Federation are considering relaxing the 2017 limits they imposed on
their oil production levels to rebalance the oil market, and increase
their output in the market to about 1 million barrels per day (bpd).
Reuters reported yesterday that Saudi
Arabia, Russia and their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates met
in the Russian city of St. Petersburg to review the terms of the global
oil supply pact that has been in place for 17 months, ahead of a key
OPEC meeting in Vienna next month.
Sources informed Reuters that the
meeting indicated they were ready to ease supply curbs that had pushed
crude prices to their highest since 2014 despite oil prices losing more
than 2 per cent by yesterday from the price advantage it had gained.
According to the news agency, while the
energy ministers of these countries met and discussed an output increase
of about 1mbd, Brent crude futures were down by $1.77 at $77.02 a
barrel yesterday, having hit their highest since late 2014.
It equally reported that U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $68.84 a barrel, down by $1.87.
OPEC and a group of non-OPEC producers
led by Russia started withholding output in 2017 to tighten the oil
market and prop up prices. Global crude supplies have since then
tightened sharply over the past year because of the OPEC-led cuts, which
were further boosted by a dramatic drop in Venezuelan production.
Reuters however noted that the
near-doubling in oil prices over the past year has sparked concerns
among top consuming nations such as China and India that the rally could
weigh on economic growth.
According to the report, OPEC’s
Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo, said the idea of increasing output
came following a critical tweet from U.S. President, Donald Trump, who
said last month that OPEC had ‘artificially’ boosted oil prices.
Also, speaking in St. Petersburg, Saudi
Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih, said any easing of restrictions on
pumping levels would be gradual to avoid a shock to the market.
In a related development, the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has stated that it would partner
with key government departments and agencies to ensure that execution of
its capital projects in the 2018 budget are quickly executed.
NNPC said in a statement from its Group
General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, that following the
passage of the 2018 budget by the National Assembly, its management
would do most of the front-end work by liaising with relevant government
officials to see that its budget is signed off on time.
The statement quoted its Group Managing
Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, to have said at a top management meeting
where its first quarter (Q1) performance report was reviewed and its
2017 operations closed out, that the corporation would evolve measures
to implement its 2018 budget effectively.
Baru, who reportedly charged
participants made up of all the Chief Operating Officers (COOs) of the
Autonomous Business Units (ABU) and Managing Directors of Strategic
Business Units (SBUs), as well as Heads of Corporate Services Units
(CSUs), to focus more on the implementation aspect of its report,
explained that the NNPC needed the cooperation of all relevant
government agencies to get its capital budgets signed off on time.
“I want us to look at the performance
side very closely and channel our contributions on that. Now that the
budget is almost ready, we need all the various departments to get the
relevant documents to enable us secure approval for implementation of
the capital projects. What we will now do is to commit and get the
approvals,” said Baru.
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