Nigeria Commends Saudi Arabia Over Reduction In Crude Oil Production

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Marlin Sylva has expressed his appreciation to the Government of Saudi Arabia over its recent voluntary reduction in its crude oil production.

In a press release signed by theGroup General Manager/SA Media to Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Garba Deen Muhammad, he said that the Saudi Government has in recent weeks announced over a million barrels per day reduction in its crude oil production to support the slumping demand that had brought the price of crude to an all-time low. “It is by difficult sacrifices like this one, the Saudi Government is making that the world economy can recover faster than expected. It is not an easy decision and that is why I feel compelled to express appreciation and support to Saudi Arabia for its leadership role in both OPEC and OPEC+”.

It would be recalled that the OPEC+ countries had on April 12, 2020 agreed to cut up to about 10mb/d in order to stem the slide in oil prices which in some cases had dropped to as low as ten dollars per barrel. It is in addition to the April 12 Agreement that Saudi Arabia voluntarily made additional cuts of over one million barrels per day; a voluntary action that is complemented by similar action from a few other OPEC members such as Kuwait. “The gradual revamp of crude oil prices in the last few days is a consequence of these actions by OPEC, OPEC+ and the effort of the Saudi Government” Minister Sylva observed.

H.E. Sylva further assured that on its part, Nigeria has been working assiduously to keep to the April 12 OPEC+ Agreement in spite of obvious technical and other challenges.