The price of crude oil once again rose above the $100 mark on Sunday hitting $101.16/barrel after trading around $98/barrel since Tuesday, even as oil marketers in Nigeria have continued to assert that an increased pump price for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, higher than the approved rate is the only way to stay in business.
Industry figures sighted by Africa Today News, New York on Sunday showed that Brent, the international benchmark for crude, climbed up by $2.06 or 2.08 per cent to close at $101.16/barrel as at 6.36pm Nigerian time.
Recall that Brent had last Wednesday fallen fell below $100 per barrel the preceding day.
The report showed that Brent dropped in price by $7.72 or 7.21 per cent to close at $99.38 per barrel as at 7.45pm Nigerian time last Tuesday, a development that persisted for most part of last week.
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Africa Today News, New York reports that the fluctuations in oil price came as latest figures released by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries showed an increase in Nigeria’s oil production from 1.024 million barrels per day to 1.158mb/d.
The OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report for July 2022 showed that Nigeria’s oil production increased by 134 million barrels per day in June 2022, according to crude oil production data obtained by OPEC from direct communication.
The report stated that Nigeria’s oil production in May 2022 was 1.024mb/d, but this moved up to 1.158mb/d in June.
However, figures from OPEC showed that the country had produced more crude oil in April this year, as its output at the time was 1.219mb/d.
The appreciation in crude oil price on Sunday and fluctuations in Nigeria’s oil production came as oil marketers across the country maintained the hike in the pump prices of petrol at filling stations.