ExpressDay
The Federal Government says it is committed to the full implementation of the agreement entered into by OPEC and 10 non-OPEC Member States also known as the OPEC plus or the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) Countries.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Head of its Delegation to the OPEC Conference, Timipre Sylva, gave the assurance in a tele-conference with the Chairman of the OPEC-Non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and Minister of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and some other DoC Ministers over the weekend.
A statement by GGM/Special Adviser on Media, Office of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Garba Deen Muhammad in Abuja on Sunday, said Sylva, recalled his assurance to the last meeting of the JMMC held in September, in Abu Dhabi, that Nigeria would, within three months, be one hundred percent compliant with the Agreement that it had voluntarily entered into.
He noted that in fulfilment of that pledge, Nigeria’s compliance level has witnessed tremendous progress, month by month, since last August resulting in one hundred percent compliance in November 2019.
Sylva commended member countries of the DoC that have consistently met and even exceeded their targets of production cuts, attributing the successes achieved in bringing stability to the oil market to the whole group, but especially due to the extra efforts of these countries.
He particularly commended the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the extra burden it has taken on its own volition to help stabilize the global oil market.
He thanked Prince Abdulaziz and the Government of the Kingdom for the exemplary leadership role they have been playing in the DoC.
On his part, Prince Abdulaziz commended Nigeria for the efforts it has made since August to ensure compliance, noting that the Agreement came into effect at the same time when Nigeria’s Egina was coming on-stream.
OPEC Ministers are expected to meet in Vienna next week to review developments in the global oil market for the first half of 2020 and take some critical decisions affecting the oil industry and by implication the global economy. The first decision is on the fate of the current Agreement which expires on 31st March 2020.
