Less than two weeks after OPEC’s decision to extend oil production cuts, Libya and Nigeria, are signaling their intent to raise output in 2018.
While several ministers at the Nov. 30 meeting of the OPEC suggested the two nations had joined the output-curbing deal, both are working to add to their peak production from 2018.
On Friday, oil company Total said its new Egina field offshore Nigeria was on track to start in 2018, adding 10 per cent to the country’s production.
The field will have a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) and launch in the fourth quarter of 2018, counterbalancing production constrained by aging pipelines, perpetual theft and sabotage.
“That could certainly change the dynamics,” said Ehsan Ul-Haq, head of crude and products at Resource Economist, a consultancy.
The Nigerian petroleum ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the Egina field startup, and whether production elsewhere would be curtailed as a result.
Unfazed by OPEC, Libya, Nigeria seek to boost oil output in 2018
