By SOLOMON ASOWATA

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria’s crude oil production declined to an average of 1.417 million barrels per day in February 2022.

OPEC made this known in its Oil Market Report for March 2022, which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

The report said the figure showed a decrease of 10,000 barrels per day when compared to the 1.427mb/d produced averagely in the month of January 2021.

“According to secondary sources, total OPEC-13 crude oil production averaged 28.47 mb/d in February 2022, higher by 0.44 mb/d Month-on-Month.

“Crude oil output increased mainly in Saudi Arabia and Libya, while production in Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea declined,” the report said.

The report noted that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew about 4.0 per cent in fourth quarter of 2021, which was the fifth consecutive quarter of economic expansion.

It said this was amid the ongoing recovery from the pandemic effects that dragged down the country’s main economic activities.

The report said: “The annual inflation rate stood at 15.6 per cent in January 2022, almost unchanged from the previous month.

“On a monthly basis, consumer prices were up 1.47 per cent, following a 1.82 per cent increase in the previous month.

Higher food costs related the geopolitical tensions could further fuel inflation.

Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria’s Purchasing Managers’ Index surged to 57.3 in February from 53.7 in the previous month, as the non-oil private sector expanded the most since November 2019.”

It said the increasing oil price might provide ample support for the Nigerian economy but that the disruption to global trade flows and supply shortages could offset this positive impact. (NAN)