The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will act to balance the market after oil prices hit their highest in four years, but its options may be limited by available spare capacity, Malam Mele Kyari, head of crude oil marketing at Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC and also the country’s OPEC representative said on Wednesday.
Oil prices surged this week on uncertainty over the global supply outlook following U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and also as Saudi Arabia and Russia ruled out any immediate boost to output. Kyari also said Nigeria planned to increase its crude oil, condensate output by 100,000 barrels per day by the end of the year, up from about 2 million bpd currently.
The country’s current crude oil production is about 1.7 million bpd, he said. In 2019, the African producer is aiming for an average output of 2.3 million bpd by boosting output from existing fields as well as starting new production from an ultra deepwater field, Kyari said. Kyari was in Singapore to launch the new Egina crude grade with field operator French oil major Total at APPEC.
