The worldwide price of Brent, the global benchmark for crude, Sunday dropped to $86 per barrel even as all oil grades witnessed reduced prices on the first day of the week.
This development occurred amid the recent efforts of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to stabilize the cost of the commodity.
OPEC’s September 2022 Oil Market Report revealed that a Nigerian oil rig was inactive in August 2022, compared to the number of operational rigs in the preceding month, as oil prices plummeted.
According to industry data viewed in Abuja on Sunday, Brent’s price fell by $4.31 or 4.76 per cent to $86.15 per barrel as of 4.18 p.m. Nigerian time.
While the price of oil grades in the OPEC Basket slightly decreased by $0.24 or 0.25 per cent to close at $96.31/barrel, WTI crude lost $4.75 or 5.69% to close at $78.74/barrel.
According to information from OPEC’s World Rig Count, there were 10 operational drilling rigs in Nigeria as of August of this year, down from 11 in July.
The organization also said that in 2019, there were an average of 16 working oil rigs in Nigeria. This number dropped to 11 in 2020 and then to 7 in 2021.
The average number of operational oil rigs in Nigeria was estimated to be eight and ten in the first and second quarters of 2022, respectively.
According to OPEC’s data, the number of operational drilling rigs rose to 11 in July of this year, but this increase was short-lived because it fell back to 10 in August.
The alarming rate of crude oil theft was a major factor in the dormancy or halt in the operations of Nigeria’s oil rigs.
The Federal Government, oil unions, the military, and other interested parties have all expressed their concerns about this on numerous occasions.
