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Oil Price Ends 2019 On A Positive Note

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By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

Crude oil prices booked their biggest rise in three years on the last day of 2019, supported by the combined force of OPEC+ production cuts and the improvement of trade relations between the United States and China.

Brent crude has added 24 percent since the start of the year, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has done even better, rising by 36 percent cumulatively, according to Reuters.

At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $66.

60 a barrel with WTI at $61.57 a barrel. Both were slightly down from Monday’s close but still on track to book a positive year overall.

“Prices ended the year with optimism close to 70$ /bbl for Brent and we expect them to stay supported through Q1,” OilX chief executive Florian Thaler told Oilprice. “In March all eyes will remain on OPEC and OPEC+ and whether the action of production adjustment will be extended further. We observe that most of the recent optimism can also be attributed to the US/China trade talks and that will remain a key factor to watch as based on OilX data, China is the single largest growth factor in global oil markets.”

“Oil prices have followed the general de-risking drift into year-end despite a rise in Middle East tensions and last week’s bullish-for-oil-price inventory draws as the broader markets appear to be losing some of that holiday cheer,” Reuters quoted AxiTrader market strategist Stephen Innes as saying.

Yet not all is rosy. “Oil prices, though largely expected to trade positive, will face headwinds from subdued global growth momentum and robust U.S. shale output levels in the first quarter,” analyst Benjamin Lu from brokerage Phillip Futures told Reuters.

Another headwind could be Russia’s withdrawal from the OPEC+ production cut agreement. As Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday, as quoted by Energy Intelligence’s Amena Bakr, Moscow will seek to gradually leave the agreement in 2020.

For now, however, in the last hours of 2019, oil is doing better than it was 12 months ago. This could carry over into the New Year in the absence of any production-related news reports that are likely to make a splash and cause benchmarks to take a dive.

One news story that could send prices higher, however, could be the EIA’s production report for October with actual figures from producers rather than estimates. The report is due out later today and could cause a spike in oil prices if, as some sceptics believe, the figure turns out lower than estimated by the EIA at the time, after reports began emerging that shale oil wells’ actual performance fell short of forecasts.

BUSINESS

Nigeria’s Oil Output Rises 0.4 Per Cent in August

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Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production rose by 0.4 per cent to 1,677,777 barrels per day (bpd) in August 2026.

The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) disclosed this in its crude oil and condensate statistics report released on Sunday.

The commission said crude oil production, excluding condensate, averaged 1,500,190 bpd during the month under review.

It added that Nigeria met its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude oil quota for the fourth consecutive month.

According to the report, combined crude oil and condensate production fluctuated between a daily low of 1.

64 million barrels and high of 1.71 million barrels.

The report showed that Bonny Terminal recorded the highest average production at 320.04 thousand barrels per day (kbpd).

Forcados Terminal followed closely, recording an average daily production of 317.40 kbpd during the month.

 “Qua Iboe Terminal recorded an average production of 171.72kbpd of crude oil and condensates,” the report said.

It added that Escravos Oil Terminal recorded a daily average production of 131.71 kbpd during the period.

Bonga ranked fifth among the highest-producing terminals, with an average output of 92.50 kbpd of crude oil.

The NUPRC attributed the modest increase in August production largely to the resolution of operational challenges involving the Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) at the Erha field.

The commission said the challenges had adversely affected production performance in the preceding month.

It explained that restoring normal evacuation and production operations at the Erha field contributed positively to overall production volumes in August.

“Production activities across most other producing assets remained relatively stable,” the report said.

It said operators continued implementing measures to optimise production efficiency, maintain asset integrity and minimise operational disruptions.

The commission added that routine production and crude evacuation operations were generally sustained across the industry during the period.

 “These supported the observed improvement in output,” it said.

The report described the August increase as modest but said it reflected continuing industry efforts to address operational bottlenecks.

It said stakeholders were also working to restore affected production capacity and support sustained growth in the coming months.

The commission said operators remained focused on improving asset reliability and operational resilience across Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.

It added that intervention programmes were being advanced to strengthen production performance and reduce disruptions.

The August performance, according to the NUPRC, underscored the importance of resolving operational constraints promptly.

It also highlighted the need for effective asset management and continued collaboration among industry stakeholders.

Such measures, the commission said, remained critical to safeguarding and improving Nigeria’s crude oil production capacity. (NAN)

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Oil & Gas

Chevron Says Competitive Local Capacity Devt to Define Nigeria’s Energy Future

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The Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Jim Swartz, has highlighted key areas that would sustain Nigeria’s energy transition growth pathway.

Swartz, is of the opinion that strong collaboration and partnership are key to sustain the country’s energy needs.

Speaking at the just-concluded 49th Nigerian Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE) in Lagos, Swartz, said no one player can deliver the scale of projects required to achieve the goals set by the country alone.

He declared that Collaboration is essential because no single company, institution, or stakeholder can address the opportunities and challenges of the intersector alone.

And technology will remain a key driver of safer operations, stronger performance, and the future that we will deliver. For Nigeria, the opportunity is significant.

The conference with the theme “Thriving in the Evolving Global Energy Landscape: Collaborative Growth and Resilience,” focused on how Nigeria can compete for capital and sustain production amid global volatility.

The managing director listed four pillars he believed are essential to define a resilient energy future.

These include continued investment, enabling long-term policies, competitive local capacity development, and strong partnerships.

He continued, “Building a resilient energy future requires continued investment, enabling policies that are resilient for the long-term, local capacity development that’s competitive and durable as well, and strong partnerships across governments, regulators, industry, and the technical community,”.

He said Chevron has invested in Nigeria for more than six decades, noting the company’s role in building the foundation of the industry and in developing technical capacity.

The firm therefore called for stronger collaboration across government, regulators and industry operators as the foundation for building a resilient oil and gas sector that can deliver growth, jobs and energy security for Nigeria.

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BUSINESS

NNPC Saves $3.4bn, Contributes N19.5tn Revenue in One Year

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By David Torough, Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) said it saved $3.4bn through contract restructuring and optimisation over the past year, while increasing its contribution to government revenue to N19.

5tn and boosting crude oil and gas production.

Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, disclosed the figures on Tuesday while presenting the company’s one-year performance scorecard at the opening of the 25th NOG Energy Week in Abuja.

According to Ojulari, the contract optimisation programme reduced operating costs by $3.

4bn without disrupting operations, strengthening commercial efficiency and improving the competitiveness of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

The scorecard showed that crude oil production rose by six per cent year-on-year to 569.7 million barrels, while gas production increased by 8.1 per cent to 2,576 billion standard cubic feet. NNPC’s contribution to government revenue also climbed by 21.8 per cent to N19.5tn.

Ojulari said Nigeria’s crude oil production has reached about 1.71 million barrels per day, the highest level in five years, while NNPC Exploration and Production Limited achieved a record output of 365,000 barrels per day.

He said the company aims to increase crude oil production to two million barrels per day by 2027 and three million barrels per day by 2030. Gas production is projected to rise from 7.62 billion cubic feet per day this year to 10 billion cubic feet per day in 2027 and 12 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.

The NNPC boss also reported significant improvements in export infrastructure, noting that crude export terminals recorded an average 98 per cent recovery factor between April 2025 and May 2026. He added that major evacuation pipelines, including the Trans Niger, Trans Escravos, Trans Ramos, Trans Forcados and Oando-Brass lines, are operating at 100 per cent availability.

Ojulari further disclosed that NNPC maintained 100 per cent compliance with its Joint Venture cash-call obligations throughout 2025 and into June 2026, although some partners remained in default, increasing the company’s funding responsibilities.

On the commercial front, he said NNPC signed gas sale and purchase agreements covering 1.29 billion standard cubic feet per day for long-term LNG feed gas and 750 million standard cubic feet per day for domestic industrial gas supply to DFL FZE and Dangote Refinery. The agreements are expected to attract more than $20bn in investments, with seven additional transactions under negotiation.

He also highlighted governance reforms, including the resumption of monthly remittances to the Federation Account in July 2025, the restoration of monthly business performance reporting and the company’s first earnings call in November 2025.

Ojulari urged governments, investors, regulators and operators across Africa to strengthen collaboration, arguing that strategic partnerships would be critical to unlocking the continent’s energy potential and attracting greater investment.

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