Ukraine: FG says it’s not fully benefiting from $100 oil price
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has said that the federal government was yet to fully benefit from the windfall of global oil price increase which has hit $100 following the Ukraine crisis.
Sylva who disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg, said that Nigeria was not producing enough to meet its OPEC quota and so was not gaining much from the oil price rally.
The minister expressed sadness that the Federal Government has failed to take full advantage of rising oil price, while other oil producing countries smiled to the bank aftermath of the development.
He said: “We are not comfortable with very high prices. We would be comfortable with prices between $70 and $80, at this point the tensions are not being created by us that have affected prices.
“I don’t know what will get us to change our plans, but we are watching the situation. Right now, things are not really clear for us to now make major decisions because the tension in Europe can just go away tomorrow,
“And now there are discussions going on with Iran. If they have a nuclear deal with Iran, there would be more volume in the market, but for now, it’s best to sit and watch before taking any decisions.”
According to Sylva, with subsidy and production level, the comfortable price range for Nigeria should be between $70 to $80 at this point.
He also assured that Nigeria should be able to meet its OPEC production quota fully later in the year.
“Nigeria is looking for more African sources of funding to improve production capacity, and ensure it meets up with its production quota.
“With the kind of prices we are seeing, we are not happy, we should be back on track later this year,” he stated.
Periscope International recalls that in the early hours of Thursday, Brent crude the international benchmark for oil hit $100.07.
