*Oil Prices Jump More Than 3% On US- China Tariff Reductions
Nigeria increased its crude oil output to an average of 1.486 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, up from 1.401 million bpd recorded in March.
However, the output is still below the official quota of 1.5 million barrels per day set by OPEC+.
But, oil prices rose more than 3% on Monday after the U.S. and China said they would ease some of their tariff measures, raising hopes of an end to the trade war between the world’s two largest consumers of crude oil.
Consequently, Brent crude futures climbed $2.03, or 3.18%, to $65.94 a barrel by 0942 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading up $2.06, or 3.38%, at $63.08.
According to data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the country’s production is now 99% of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ quota.
“The average crude oil production was 99 per cent of the OPEC quota (1.5 mbpd),” NUPRC stated.
A note by the Commission showed that the country’s total crude output plus condensates in April was 1.683 million bpd, according to the upstream regulator. OPEC does not include condensates in its quotas for member states.
The NUPRC report detailed that daily production in April ranged between 1.60 million bpd at its lowest and 1.73 million bpd at its peak. The daily average comprised 1,485,700 bpd of crude oil and 197,607 bpd of condensate, totalling 1,683,307 barrels per day.
The data showed that production fluctuated through the first four months of the year, with output at 1.539 million bpd in January, 1.465 million bpd in February, before dropping to 1.401 million bpd in March and recovering to 1.486 million bpd in April.
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President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen, in February announced that Nigeria now targets daily production of 2.7 million bpd of combined crude and condensate by 2027.
The development comes as oil prices edged up on Monday over trade talk optimism between China and the U.S.
Specifically, the U.S. and China on Monday announced agreement on a temporary pause on tariffs after talks in Geneva over the weekend.
The two sides agreed to a 90-day pause and said tariffs would be cut by more than 100 percentage points to a 10% baseline rate.
“Global equity markets and procyclical commodities have responded very positively,” said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.
The Geneva meetings were the first face-to-face interactions between senior U.S. and Chinese economic officials since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to power and launched a spate of tariffs on trading partners across the globe.
Positive talks between the world’s two largest economies could help to boost demand as trade between the countries is restored.
Both oil benchmarks had gained more than 4% last week after a U.S. trade deal with Britain swelled investor optimism that economic disruptions from U.S. tariffs on trading partners may be avoided.
Additionally, talks between Iranian and U.S. negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran’s nuclear programme ended in Oman on Sunday with further negotiations planned, officials said, as Tehran publicly insisted on continuing its uranium enrichment.
A U.S.-Iran nuclear deal could alleviate concerns about lower global oil supply, which could also pressure oil prices, according to Reuters.