The price of Nigeria’s Bonny Light, yesterday, surged to $100 per barrel, from $98 per barrel recorded last Monday, due mainly to speculation occasioned by the European Union, EU ban on Russian oil.
The oil price, the highest since the first quarter of 2022, showed $30 per barrel in excess of the $70 per barrel benchmark of the 2023 budget, which was also based on 1.69 million barrels daily output.
However, economy analysts believe that although Nigeria stands to benefit from the current oil market situation, it might suffer an output shortfall, due to increased pipeline vandalism, oil theft and illegal refining in the Niger Delta.
For instance, checks showed that the nation’s oil production crashed by 24.73 percent in September 2022 to 937,766 barrels per day compared to 1.246 barrels per day recorded over the corresponding month in 2021.
According to data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) crude and condensate production for September 2022 was 1.137 million barrels per day compared to 1.179 million barrels produced in August 2022
