Following reports that Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, on Wednesday decided to cut oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) from current production of 33.24mbpd, there were initially shivers around the spines of Nigerians whose economy is currently in recession and depends majorly on oil.
However, details from the meeting show that Nigeria is actually about ot eat its cake and have it as Iran, Nigeria and Libya have been allowed to produce “at maximum levels that make sense” as OPEC members are gearing up to finalize national quotas by November.
Why this was particularly unexpected was because Saudi Arabia’s economy, just like Nigeria’s has been suffering from the free fall of crude oil prices, decided to change its stance that all OPEC members reduce or none reduces.
“For the Saudis, it just goes against the conventional wisdom of what they’ve been saying,” said Jeff Quigley, director of energy markets at Houston-based Stratas Advisors.
Invitations could also be sent to non-OPEC members who export oil in an effort to rally everyone concerned so that the situation is quickly resolved.
For Nigeria, hopes will be high that the next meeting goes smoothly as the synergy of increased oil prices and increased production will mean increased revenue and a quicker path out of the recession.
Parts of this article originally appeared in ThisDay Newspapers.
