Nigeria’s earnings from crude oil plunged by about N75.9bn in February and March this year despite the increase in global oil prices for the third consecutive month in March 2022.
The latest data from the April 2022 Monthly Oil Market Report of OPEC showed oil prices had been on increase since January 2022 and Nigeria’s production had been on the decrease.
The organization said, “Crude oil spot prices rose for the third-consecutive month in March. The North Sea Dated benchmark gained more than $20/barrel on a monthly average while WTI gained almost $17/barrel.
“The OPEC Reference Basket price increased $19.53, or 20.8 per cent, to settle at $113.48/barrel. Oil futures prices witnessed elevated volatility due to the uncertain short-term oil supply and demand outlook.
The report showed that the country’s oil production had been falling since January this year. For instance, the country produced 1.413 million barrels of crude oil daily in January and dropped to 1.378 million barrels daily in February.
A daily plunge of 35,000 barrels to a total loss of 980,000 barrels of crude oil in February 2022. Nigeria’s crude oil production crashed further by 744,000 barrels in March 2022 when compared to production in February.
