While Nigeria’s major export product, Brent Crude dipped a bit at the end of 2021, it stands to post its biggest annual gain in 12 years, thanks to a global economic recovery from the COVID-19 slump and producer restraint, despite record levels of infections throughout the world.
At 7am Nigerian time, Brent crude futures was down 0.4% at $79 a barrel, while WTI crude futures was down 0.5% at $76.6 a barrel. Both Brent and WTI are expected to end the year up 53% and 57%, respectively. That would be the best year for either benchmark contract since 2009, when prices rose more than 70%.
Brent touched $86.70 a barrel in October, the highest since 2018, and WTI reached $85.41 a barrel, the highest since 2014.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer of crude oil and gas, gets most of its crude oil from the Niger Delta region. It’s primarily classified under two specifications based on its lightness and gravity, the heavier grade with a specification of 20-25 gravity. Both Nigerian grade types, including the lighter 36-gravity one, are low in sulfur and paraffinic. Bonny light, Brass River, and Qua Iboe are examples of Nigerian grades.
Nigeria’s oil and gas sector contributes roughly 10% of the country’s GDP, while petroleum exports amount to 86% of total exports, according to OPEC.
The nation’s crude oil production in November averaged 1.27 million barrels per day, reclaiming the top spot among oil-producing countries in Africa.
As compared with the 1.228 million barrels per day produced on average in October 2021, this figure showed an increase of 47,000 barrels per day. Libya, which topped the African list with 1.24 mb/d in October, fell to 1.211 mb/d in November.
Although Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus have reportedly implemented lockdowns and travel restrictions, oil prices have remained relatively high.
As cases of COVID-19 soared to new pandemic levels across the globe, from Australia to the United States, fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant, oil prices collapsed on Friday after rising for several consecutive days.
As holiday travel, New Year’s celebrations and school reopening’s follow winter breaks, U.S. health experts warned Americans to expect severe disruptions in coming weeks with infections likely to worsen.