Nigeria has been left in the rear while oil-producing countries pocket fortunes on the back of Russia, Ukraine tensions.
Tracknews understands that Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil hit $100.07 in the early hours of Thursday morning before returning to N99.40 some minutes later.
The federal government has lamented the inability of the country to take full advantage of the rising oil price, watching its contemporaries enjoy the benefits.
Speaking on the recent development at an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva noted that because the country was not producing enough to meet its OPEC quota it was not gaining much from the oil price rally.
Meanwhile, it has been predicted earlier that oil price is likely to surpass $100 before the end of the week.
Sadly, when the prediction came to fulfilment, Nigeria was not ready to enjoy the oil windfall and Sylva did not fail to stress the headache facing the country.
The Minister pointed out that with subsidy and production level, the comfortable price range for Nigeria would be between $70-$80 at this point.
His words: “We are not comfortable with very high prices. We would be comfortable with prices between $70 and $80, at this point the tensions are not being created by us that have affected prices.
“I don’t know what will get us to change our plans, but we are watching the situation. Right now, things are not really clear for us to now making major decisions because the tension in Europe can just go away tomorrow.
“And now discussions are going on with Iran. If they have a nuclear deal with Iran, there would be more volume in the market, but for now, it’s best to sit and watch before taking any decisions.”
The minister also assured that Nigeria should be able to meet its OPEC production quota fully later in the year.
Sylva explained further that Nigeria is looking for more African sources of funding to improve production capacity and ensure it meets up with its production quota.
“With the kind of prices we are seeing, we are not happy, we should be back on track later this year,” the Minister added.
