(3 minutes read)
· The African Energy Chamber hailed OPEC and OPEC+ Member countries’ historic deal to cut oil production to maintain market stability.
· OPEC and OPEC+ member countries have finally decided to cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels on Easter Sunday, the culmination of a long drawn out negotiations.
The African Energy Chamber hailed OPEC and OPEC+ Member countries’ historic deal to cut oil production to maintain market stability. The Chamber reiterated its earlier stand that the African countries should join OPEC in restoring market stability and said that the wide support for OPEC amongst all African producing countries augured well.
OPEC and OPEC+ member countries have finally decided to cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels on Easter Sunday, the culmination of a long drawn out negotiations. There were differences among the countries. For instance, Russia and Saudi Arabia could not agree on certain terms, which prolonged the negotiation. Later, Mexico pulled the carpet under the feet regarding the quantum of cut. Later, US President Donald Trump had to intervene to keep the oil production cut by Mexico by one million barrels per day. The cut in oil production will come into effect by 1st May 2020 and quantum of cuts has been fixed for each member.
Oil producing countries in Africa are Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Libya, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Egypt, South Sudan, Chad and Niger. Oil and gas exploration are going in full swing in many other countries in the region, which are expected to join the ranks of oil producing nations sooner or later. The decline in the oil prices, which started since 2012 and peaked during the Covid-19 days, had severely affected the revenue flows of the African countries.
