Nigeria’s daily oil production falls to 1.34 million barrels

Crude oil production in Nigeria declined to 1.34 million barrels per day in May from 1.37 million bpd in April, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

OPEC, in its monthly oil market report for May, said the group’s total crude oil production averaged 25.46 million bpd in May, up by 390,000 bpd month-on-month.

“Crude oil output increased mainly in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and IR Iran, while production decreased primarily in Nigeria and Angola,” it said.

Capital Economics, a London-based economic research firm, noted on Thursday that OPEC’s oil production increased sharply in May on the back of higher quotas and Saudi Arabia starting to phase out its voluntary production cut.

It said, “Production will rise again in both June and July in line with higher quotas, and we think the group’s production will rise even further beyond July which could limit further gains in oil prices.

“OPEC once again left its 2021 oil demand forecast unchanged, although it did revise down its estimate for Q1 and revise up its Q2 forecast. OPEC also revised up its 2021 non-OPEC liquids supply forecast by 0.1 million bpd to 63.7 million bpd, from 62.9 million bpd in 2020. OPEC now even projects a slight decline in US crude oil production this year to 11.2 million bpd, but this still more optimistic than our view.”