By Libby George, Ahmad Ghaddar and Alex Lawler
LAGOS/LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - OPEC has granted Nigeria a
higher oil output target under an OPEC-led deal to limit oil
supply in a move unannounced by the group, following efforts by
Africa's largest exporter to tweak the agreement to accommodate
its expanding oil industry.
The country's allocation was increased to 1.774 million
barrels per day (bpd) from 1.685 million bpd at the last OPEC
meeting in July, three OPEC delegates with knowledge of the
matter said.
"It's happened," one of the delegates said. "I've not heard
of any other changes to the agreement."
The quota increase will mean Nigeria will see an improvement
in its compliance with the supply cut accord, but it is still
pumping more crude than the new target according to OPEC's own
figures and industry surveys.
Nigeria's petroleum ministry and OPEC did not immediately
reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Abuja has had a dismal record in delivering its share of the
cut, overshooting by 400% in August according to the
International Energy Agency. OPEC put Nigerian production at
1.866 million bpd in August - far above the new quota.
The nation has previously tried to draw a distinction
between what it considers as crude and what it considers as
condensates, an ultra light crude-like product that doesn't fall
under the OPEC+ cut agreement. [https://reut.rs/2gTrUNC
Its own definition of condensates would shave a significant
amount exports from its cap. Data from Nigeria's Department of
Petroleum Resources pegged daily average condensate production
as between 414,000 to 497,000 bpd in 2017, the latest year
available. That accounted for 17%-19% of total output that year.
One of the OPEC delegates said OPEC granted Nigeria the
target revision because of the new Total-operated Egina oilfield
which started production in January and had not been factored in
when the initial quota was calculated.
Some of the Egina production will also classify as
condensates, meaning even more of Nigeria's output would not
count towards the new cap.
While OPEC has not formally announced the change, Nigerian
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva
mentioned the new target in a Bloomberg interview last week. He
did not elaborate on circumstances leading to the new target.
The 14-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries agreed in December with non-OPEC partners including
Russia to curb crude production by 1.2 million bpd from the
start of this year.
OPEC's share of the cut is 800,000 bpd, with Venezuela, Iran
and Libya exempt. It is not clear whether this figure, or any
other countries' targets, have been adjusted to accommodate
Nigeria's increased quota.
Nigeria only started participating in the deal in January,
having been granted and exemption in previous OPEC+ cuts due to
militant attacks that reduced its output.
Nigerian Oil Production vs OPEC+ cut targets https://tmsnrt.rs/2MrOA6w
Nigerian Condensate Production https://tmsnrt.rs/2AY0ZK8
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