Nigerian Energy Minister Commits To OPEC+ Oil Cuts Despite Not Meeting Targets

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) Timipre Sylva, the Nigerian minister of state for petroleum resources, has made a commitment to Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, to meet the oil cut targets set out by a recent OPEC+ deal, given the African country's failure to so far reduce output to the required level, according to a joint statement published after the two ministers held a call on Monday, ahead of the OPEC+ meetings on future of oil production cuts.

The OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee (JTC) will convene on Tuesday and will be followed by the Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) on Wednesday.

"HE Minister Sylva confirmed the commitment of Nigeria to the OPEC+ agreement. He clarified that his country has not yet met the terms of that agreement, and is currently below the level of the agreed cuts," the joint statement, as quoted by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, read.

The Nigerian minister committed to meeting the target and reducing output even further to compensate for the overproduction seen over the past two months, according to the statement.

"HE Minister Sylva also confirmed that Nigeria will raise its level of conformity to 100 percent, and will compensate during the months of July, August and September, for the over-production in May and June," the statement read, as quoted by the agency.

Both ministers expressed their commitment to the OPEC+ output cut deal, which was signed this past May. OPEC+ nations agreed to cut crude oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day in May and June, although this was later extended into July as well. According to the original deal, output cuts will then decrease to 7.7 million barrels per day until the end of 2020, and 5.8 million barrels daily from January 2021 through April 2022.

Iraq has also experienced difficulties in meeting the new production targets, although Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, who also held talks with the Saudi energy minister earlier in the day, said that the country will look to reach full compliance by August.