Nigeria is aiming to extend another six months of exclusion from the oil production reduction plan set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),  All Africa reported.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, announced Nigeria’s exemption request at a world news conference in Houston that was held earlier May, Vanguard informed.

By the end of 2016, after negotiations, 13 OPEC members and 11 non-OPEC countries, led by Russia, decided to limit their production by about 1.8mb/d for a period of six months starting from the beginning of 2017, aiming to limit a glut of crude that affected the oil prices decline for over two years. Iran, Libya, and Nigeria were exempted from applying the decision.

Nigeria’s exclusion was due to the production challenges that the country was facing after the militant attacks on the country’s oil facilities.

An OPEC meeting will be held on May 24 in Vienna to decide whether to extend the reduction plan or not.

Kachikwu noted, “Over and above extending [the OPEC deal], we need to continue to engage, we need to find a way to stabilize international oil price, otherwise everybody will lose out.”

He added that the country would need a little more time to complete a number of critical export pipelines, some of which were nearing completion.