NIGERIA – Nigeria, has announced that it will cut down on its crude oil production by 57000barrels per day (bpd) to comply with the targets set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Nigeria, through its Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Sylvia Timipre revealed its intention at the 16th Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

In a statement read on behalf of the minister by the Spokesman for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr Ndu Ugahmadu, in Abuja, the minister said Nigeria would continue to play its role in OPEC effectively.

“We have agreed to comply with production cuts of 50 per cent this month and 100 per cent from October this year,” Sylva stated.

The decision to cut on production comes at a time when Nigeria has been commended by for its unwavering commitment to the stability of the global oil market which spanned many years of its membership of the organisation.

This commendation came from the Chairman of OPEC’s 16th Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman

Bin Salman, who doubles as the Saudi Arabian Energy Minister, noted that since the 1980s when Nigeria’s was heading the organization, the West African nation’s role had been very pivotal in helping OPEC achieve stability in the oil market.

“Nigeria has always brought commitment and obligation towards the OPEC cause,” noted Bin Salman.

“I always thought of how we would have crossed the uncertainties of the global oil market of the 1980s without Nigeria,” Bin Salman added.

Mr. Sylvia said that the OPEC endorsement of Nigeria was a testimony of President Muhammdu Buhari’s efforts at ensuring that Nigeria remained a stabilising force within the organisation.

“The rest of OPEC have always looked up to us whenever there are problems,” said Sylvia.

“Recall that as OPEC Secretary-General, our late Oil Minister Dr Rilwanu Lukman was highly influential and since then we have played a central role and have been taken very seriously by member countries.”

OPEC’s decision to reduce crude oil supply by 1.2 million barrels per day was informed by the need to prevent a glut amid soaring United States production and a slowing global economy.

Oil prices have been falling steadily and currently a barrel of crude oil is sold at US$60 as significant decline from the 2019 peak price of US$75.

Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, pledged in September to reduce output by 175,000 bpd by October, 2019.