Nigeria supports an extension of a deal between OPEC, Russia and other non-members to cut oil supply until the end of 2018 “as long as the right terms are on the table” regarding its own participation, its oil minister, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said on Monday (November 06).
Kachikwu said there is growing agreement among other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to extend the deal.
Nigeria itself, however, is exempt from the deal.
“There isn’t any reason to change what is a winning formula so I think there is a good consensus building up that we should. Now whether everybody is willing to do it the entire part of next year which is like a 12 month extension as it were.. this is up on the table … but there is a consensus to extend…the issue will be the duration,” he said.
Ease global excess
“We will be looking to see a number that enables us to be able to contribute especially if it’s a 12 month period as opposed to a short term period but certainly not a number that handicaps us greatly as a country given all the difficulties we’ve had. So my guess… and frankly I have not drilled down on this, but my guess is that it stays in the range of 1.8, 1.9 preferably closer to 1.9 than 1.8 … this sort of number where we can tolerate the cost and then be able to survive as a nation,” Kachikwu added.
OPEC, along with Russia and nine other producers agreed to cut oil output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until March 2018, in an attempt to ease a global excess that weighed on prices.
The group will meet in Vienna later this month to discuss whether to extend that deal.
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