The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries may reassess global demand for oil after an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said.
OPEC is set up to “stabilize the market,” he said in New Delhi today. “OPEC is currently maintaining its ceiling. I think the current events in North Africa will probably inform the decision as to where those ceilings will be increased.”
Nigeria, the sixth-largest OPEC producer, plans to raise crude production capacity to 4 million barrels a day from 2.5 million barrels, Ajumogobia said. The West African nation is willing to increase output if requested by OPEC to compensate for declining shipments in Libya, state-owned Nigerian National Oil Corp. said March 9.
Attacks by armed groups targeting the oil industry cut more than 28 percent of the country’s crude output from 2006 to 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The actions have subsided after thousands of militants campaigning for more local control of the delta’s energy resources accepted a government amnesty and disarmed two years ago.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and the fifth- biggest source of U.S. crude imports. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. (CVX), Total SA (FP) and Eni SpA (ENI) operate joint ventures with NNPC that pump most of the country’s crude.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net
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