The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr Mohammed Barkindo, on Monday disclosed that member nations lost about N$1 trillion between 2015 and 2016 as a consequence of the plunge in crude oil prices.
He made the disclosure in his goodwill message at the opening of the 2021 edition of the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja.
According to him, no member nation of OPEC was insulated from foregone revenues due to a contraction in oil revenues during the cycle.
He noted that from 2014 to 2016, world oil supply growth outpaced demand, with world oil supply growing by 5.8 mb/d, while world oil demand increased by 4.3 mb/d. “By July 2016, OECD commercial stock overhang reached a record high of about 403 mb over the five-year average.
The OPEC Reference Basket price fell by an extraordinary 80 per cent between June 2014 and January 2016. Some crude oil benchmarks fell below $10/b”, he explained. On the 2020-21 recession that jolted the new Nigerian oil industry, Barkindo said it was caused by extraneous factors far beyond Nigeria’s borders.
“The devastating spread of COVID-19 severely impacted global oil demand and, again, developing economies were exposed.
