Nigeria, which failed to curb oil production quota in strict adherence with the OPEC agreement in an effort to ameliorate the glut in the international market, has now submitted a comprehensive plan.
Last week, the international oil cartel gave four countries, including Angola, Gabon and Brunei, Monday deadline to comply and immediately prepare a specific schedule on how they intended to compensate for pumping above the OPEC+ quotas since the deal in April.
Earlier, Iraq and Kazakhstan, which had also defaulted, sent in their own plan in compliance with the agreement that sought to cut back 9.7 million barrels of crude oil per day.
OPEC has also mandated its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee to reach out to all the underperforming participating countries to submit their schedules for compensation, insisting that 100 per cent compliance must be achieved.
However, Bloomberg, quoting delegates and insiders, said the four countries have now provided details to other members of the cartel on how they’ll make extra reductions to compensate for the extra production.
The entire compensation plan, with additional reductions over the coming months, will amount to about 1.26 million barrels a day, spread out between now and September.
For Nigeria, regarded as the next-biggest transgressor within the OPEC cartel after Iraq, it was learnt that the country has pledged to make up for its 180,000 barrel-a-day overproduction in May by cutting an extra 45,000 a day each month between June and September.
Despite the stumbles, overall implementation of the new curbs by OPEC+ was strong last month, at 87 per cent while oil prices have strengthened as a result of the measures and a recovery in fuel demand in nations such as China.
Brent crude has more than doubled since late April to around $43 a barrel, though it’s still down this year almost 35 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has officially inaugurated the newly constituted board of the NNPC.
The members of the NNPC board, which had earlier in June been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, are Sylva, who doubles as the alternate chairman of the board; Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari and Senator Magnus Abe.
Others are: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Isah Dutse, Dr. Tajudeen Umaru, Dr. Steven Dike, Mrs Lami Ahmed, Chief Pius Akinyelure, Mr Mohammed Lawal and Secretary of the board, Mrs Hadiza Coomassie.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Information, at the ministry, Mrs. Enefaa Bob-Manuel, said the new board, for administrative expediency, was further constituted into three main committees namely; establishment, chaired by Lawal, finance, headed by Akinyelure and audit chaired by Dike.