An estimated 84 million barrels of Nigerian crude oil is currently stranded at sea, a report by Wall Street Journal has said.
Read Also: Stop Begging For Houses, Turn Seized Assets Into Isolation Centres, SERAP Tells Buhari
In an April 27 report, the newspaper said cargo ships filled with Nigerian crude had nowhere to go, and Nigerian oil companies were competing to fill the “last few empty tankers still left at sea”.
The tankers are reported to be coming from production fields managed by Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil.
Read Also: North’ll Lobby South-west, Other Nigerians To Retain Power In 2023 – Arewa Youths
According to experts, it will be risky to shut down production in some oil fields, as the wells are “too old to be restarted once they go idle”.
However, a situation where companies run out of vessels will make shutting the oil fields inevitable.
Read Also: Buses Must Operate From 8am To 7pm, Carry 60 Percent Seating Capacity – Lagos NURTW
“When there are no more vessels to load the crude, then the entire world collapses,” Kola Karim, the chairman of Shoreline Natural Resources, was quoted as saying.
“You will have serious, serious security implications. Unrest.”
According to the publication, a tanker was turned back from the US Gulf Coast, and it returned to the Canary Islands, where other Nigerian-hired ships are idled.
Read Also: UNICEF’s Head Of Communication In Kano Dies After Showing COVID-19 Symptoms
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in reduced demand for crude oil across the world, and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia has worsened an already bad situation.
In response to the fall in crude prices, Nigeria slashed its 2020 budget and reduced the budgeted crude benchmark.
Read Also: Another Kano Don Dies As Strange Deaths Continue
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies (OPEC+), also agreed on a graduated supply cut that is scheduled to last till April 2022.
Discussion about this post