Nigeria’s grade of crude oil, Bonny Light, on Thursday, witnessed a marginal rise of $1.63 cent, or 2.56 percent rise to $65.36 per barrel from the previous day, giving further relief to the nation’s budget benchmark, even as Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) mulls oil production increase. This development, according to global crude oil prices sighted by our correspondent, places the nation’s Excess Crude Account, ECA, on a positive trajectory.
The ECA is the actual oil price minus the oil price benchmark. The value is sent to the Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF, to be saved for the future generation, utilize as infrastructure fund, as well as stabilization fund.
The current robust recovery in oil prices over the past months is driving the idea of a new commodities super cycle in which prices remain above-trend for many years to come.
According to international prices of commodity, Brent Crude traded at $67.01, a decline of 0.03 cent, while the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $0.22, or 0.35 percent, to $63.44 a barrel. Nigeria’s grade of crude oil Bonny Light traded at $65.36 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) will discuss the possibility of increasing its oil production levels at the next meeting, OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
(OPEC+) is a loosely affiliated entity consisting of the 13 OPEC members and 10 of the world’s major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations
The group is set to meet on March 4, where it will discuss raising output as much as half a million barrels per day starting in April, the sources said.
OPEC+ members are currently suppressing oil production by more than 7 million barrels per day, but with oil prices now on the rise and the markets getting the idea that the market could be tightening, OPEC+ may consider loosening the reins. The last Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee Meeting of OPEC+ met in the first week of February ended without many surprises.
