Nigeria’s oil production to hit 2.1m/bpd January – Kachikwu

Petroleum Minister, Ibe Kachikwu, has said Nigeria’s oil production will reach an all-time record of 2.1 million barrels per day in January, 2017.
Speaking on the oil production of Nigeria in an interview in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the minister said the country has moved from production low of 1.4 million barrels per day, early this year, to about 1.6 million barrels per day, currently.
He expects the country’s output to touch 2.1 million barrels per day in January. “You are not likely to see additional soft impact of our production on the market. The market should be stable,” he said.
According to the minister, the price of oil is expected to be about $60 per barrel in a year’s time. “I am hoping that we are heading towards $60 per barrel and I don’t see higher than that,” said Kachikwu when asked about the expected oil price, one year down the line in December next year. He said the price range of $60 per barrel would be beneficial to both consumers and oil producers.
He had earlier said that the country will maintain oil output of 1.9 million barrels per day throughout 2016.
In October, The federal government said it expected its oil production rate to jump by 22 per cent by the year’s end to 2.2 million bpd.
However, Kachikwu Said the target is for 1.9 million b/pd at the moment. Apart from the impact of low oil prices, whose sales account for 70 per cent of the Nigerian government’s revenue, the country’s energy facilities have been crippled by attacks by militants calling for a greater share
of the country’s oil wealth.
The world had expected Nigeria to ramp up production and increase its crude export after OPEC exempted the country from joining the cut deal due to attacks on its oil and gas pipelines by militants, which had slowed down its production.
OPEC agreed to reduce output by 1.2 million barrels a day. The cut will take effect from January 2017.
As a result of the cut, which would boost oil prices, Nigeria is one of the countries expected to benefit from the deal.
Oil prices slipped on Wednesday on doubts that promised production cuts by OPEC and Russia would be deep enough to end a supply overhang that has weighed on the markets for more than two years.
North Sea Brent crude LCOc1 was down 30 cents a barrel at $53.63 by 0840 GMT.
Kachikwu has said oil price must stable at between $54 per barrel and $55 p/b before Nigeria can benefit from the cut.
With the absence of attacks on the country’s oil and gas pipelines, Nigeria produces between 2.2 million barrels per day, highest 2.8 million b/d.
1.9 million b/pd is a huge shortfall – an internal cut, which analysts have said would likely stand against the country’s struggle to revamp its already comatose economy.
As a result of recession, Nigeria’s economy plunged deeper, losing a total of $200 billion worth of investment in the oil and gas sector in 2016.
OPEC recently exempted Nigeria from its plan to cut oil output for the first time in eight years, according to analysts, this points out how far the country which used to be Africa’s biggest producer has fallen.

Daily Times gathered that from January to October, just over three wells a month were drilled in Nigeria, down from a monthly average of almost 22 in 2006, according to petroleum ministry data.