The price of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude oil increased to $53.91 per barrel in December 2016, up from $42.20 in November, a difference of $11.71. This is the second highest among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) reference basket under the month in review, Ecofin Agency reported.
Accordingly, Nigeria may have added m to its foreign exchange earnings when multiplied by current production of 1.
9mb/d in December, Sweet Crude Reports informed.
This increase boosted the West African nation’s ability to finance the 2017 budget and if the improvement continues, it could reduce its dependence on external borrowings to fund other development projects.
The World Bank has said that the prices of oil will average $55 per barrel in 2017 and may increase to $60 barrels in 2018, assuming a balanced market and no additional OPEC supply restraint.
An analysis of OPEC’s reference basket for December showed that Bonny Light crude is the second largest blend after Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude oil. The cartel said that the light sweet crude from West and North Africa’s Basket components; Saharan Blend, Es Sider, Girassol, Bonny Light, and Gabon’s Rabi, increased by 19.1% to $53.10 in the same month.