Nigeria reached its crude production quota in December under the OPEC+ agreement, said the head of the country’s national oil company on Saturday.
Mele Kyari, Nigeria National Petroleum Corp.’s group general manager, also noted that OPEC quotas only apply to crude oil production, not condensate.
“You can produce condensate which is not part of the OPEC commitments,” he told reporters at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi. “We are focusing our production to more gas-based reservoirs so that we can continue to grow our production while maintaining balance in the market.”
Nigeria’s December oil production was 2.2 million bpd, he said and declined to say how much of that was crude and how much was condensate. The country was fully compliant with its quota of 1.77 million bpd for crude, he added.
“We have met our commitment by December,” Kyari said on a panel at the forum.
S&P Global Platts’ latest survey of OPEC production estimated Nigeria’s December crude production at 1.84 million bpd. Starting this month, Nigeria’s quota drops to 1.75 million bpd under the OPEC+ coalition’s agreement to deepen its production cuts through March.
Oil output from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped to an average of 29.5mn barrels per day (bpd) in December 2019, according to a survey by Reuters. OPEC output for that month was 50,000bpd lower than in November.
Saudi Arabia, which has shouldered additional cuts through 2019 to compensate for other members that did not fully comply with their quotas, will continue to overcomply with cuts, taking approximately 400,000 more barrels per day off the market.
The group has exceeded its cuts, Reuters found that compliance rose to 158% in December, up from 153% in November.
Output from Nigeria dipped 80,000bpd in December, which Reuters attributed to a decrease in Bonga crude shipments. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Iraq each cut supply by 50,000bpd, putting Iraq’s compliance at 59%, compared to 23% compliance in November.
The UAE made additional cuts in December, and production from Kuwait remained steady. Iran and Libya, both exempt from production cuts, decreased output.
Despite the recent attack on US bases in Iraq, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo confirmed that Iraq’s oil production is secure and it should be able to reach compliance with the production cuts set by the organisation in December 2019.
“The facilities are secure in Iraq, and their production is continued, unaffected,” Barkindo said during a forum in Abu Dhabi, when asked if Iraq and Nigeria could reach full compliance.
“We are optimistic that, in the course of time, [Nigeria and Iraq] will be able to reach 100% [compliance],” he continued.
“What we are working on now is how we can assist all countries to raise their level of conformity to 100% so we can continue to give comfort to the Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] that they will be able to play this noble role that they are playing,” Barkindo added.
