According to a Reuters survey released on Tuesday, OPEC’s oil production in April fell due to a halt in some of Iraq’s exports and the delay of some Nigerian shipments. This decline in production was compounded by the strong adherence of top producers to a supply-cut deal within the broader OPEC+ alliance.
Also Read: OPEC+ Is 2.7 Million Bpd Below Oil Production Target
As per the survey, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ oil production in the last month was 28.62 million barrels per day (bpd), which was 190,000 bpd lower than the figure recorded in March. There has been a decline of over 1 million bpd in the output since September.
The reduction in Nigeria’s oil output can be attributed to the strike initiated by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) at the facilities of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited throughout the country. The strike action which began on the 13th of April, 2023 constrained the production of 300,000 barrels of oil per day. The reason behind the strike action was the breakdown of industrial relations at Mobil, caused by the impasse over the proposed changes to the rota schedule of operations staff and the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
On April 26, the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited intervened, and as a result, the issue was resolved. Mobil and the Union reached an agreement on a pay adjustment. Additionally, they decided to form a working team that will review proposals for possible changes in the rota schedule of operations staff and related parameters for implementation within a 5-month timeline.
In a previous statement, the NNPC mentioned that the strike action began after the recovery of national production from a record low of below one million barrels of crude oil production per day in July 2022 to more than 1.67 million barrels per day in March 2023.
Also Read: Oil Prices jump To $123 In Reaction To OPEC Report On Production Decrease
France’s pension strikes may also have affected Nigeria’s crude oil revenues for April 2023. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, France is Nigeria’s fourth-largest crude oil export destination, with approximately N498 billion worth of trade deals recorded in Q4 2022. Refineries across the country were shut down due to the pension strikes, which could have impacted the crude oil trade.
