Nigeria, Others Earn Close To $900bn From Crude Oil

Member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, earned $873.6 billion from oil export in 2022.

The OPEC’s petroleum export revenue climbed to the highest in almost a decade last year, as Russia’s war on Ukraine bolstered crude prices and key members ramped up production.

Last year, the 13 nations of the OPEC, earned $873.6 billion, up by 54 per cent from the previous year, according to a report released during the week from the group’s secretariat. It was their best year since 2014, when the United States’ shale boom ended a historic  period of high oil prices.

Crude soared last year as energy flows from Russia, which joined with the cartel in 2016 in a wider network known as OPEC+, were disrupted by international backlash against its military aggression. Brent futures averaged about $99 a barrel, the highest since 2014.

Meanwhile, OPEC nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE opened the taps to satisfy the post-pandemic recovery in fuel demand.The combination of surging prices and increased output pushed up earnings for the group.

The basket of crude grades typically sold by OPEC nations averaged just over $100 a barrel last year, while Bloomberg estimates show that crude production from its 13 states was about 29.2 million barrels daily. The figures for petroleum revenue also include sales of refined products.

OPEC’s earnings peaked at about $1.2 trillion in 2012, just as the use of hydraulic fracturing — also known as fracking — was unlocking a gusher of shale-oil in American states from Texas to North Dakota. The ensuing market crash spurred the Saudis and Russia, once fierce rivals, to form the OPEC+ coalition in 2016.

Revenue comparisons since then are complicated slightly by changes in OPEC’s membership. Some countries, including Qatar and Ecuador, have quit the group while others such as Equatorial Guinea and Gabon have joined.

This year, OPEC+ is once again engaged in production cuts to prop up crude markets, as China’s economic recovery disappoints and tightening interest rates in the US and elsewhere stir fears of a recession. Last week, the Saudis announced they would prolong an extra one million barrel—a-day cutback into August, and Russia made a new pledge to pare exports.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has failed to meet its OPEC quota due to crude oil theft in the Niger Delta. The situation, according to analysts in the sector has prevented the country from maximising the effect of the Russia/ Ukraine war like other members of the cartel.

The Nation