The Group Managing Director (PMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru, has disclosed that Nigeria needs an oil price that does not fall below $70 due to its production constraints.
Dr Baru spoke at a Global Business Leaders Panel Session on the sidelines of the 21st Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
He said: “We need price stability and we want to acknowledge the good gesture by Saudi Arabia.”
Commending Saudi Arabia’s recent decision to announce daily crude oil production cut by one million barrels per day from December this year, the NNPC boss stated that the move would significantly stabilize the energy market.
Meanwhile, OPEC and allied oil producers will cut or adjust production as needed to balance the market, the group’s president, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei, has said.
If OPEC + needs to reduce output, it will do so, he said in a Bloomberg TV interview in Abu Dhabi. The producers will take whatever steps are necessary to keep the market stable and keep crude inventory levels where they are, Al Mazrouei said. Oil production is above expectations, and OPEC+ needs to change its strategy, he said.
“We have cut in the past to reach the market balance, and if we need to cut production to keep the market balanced, we will,” Al Mazrouei said. “The group will reach consensus on whatever is required to adjust the market.”
OPEC plans to gather next month in Vienna to assess the market. “In December when we meet, if there’s a requirement to curtail, whatever the required cut, we will cut in accordance to what we agree on,” Al Mazrouei said. “Whatever price that we end up with, the market will decide the price, not us.”