Angola displaces Nigeria to become Africa's top oil producer - OPEC

Angola has taken over from Nigeria as Africa’s top oil producer, according to a report by the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC).

OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) released on Monday disclosed that Angola’s current production was at 1.651 million barrels per day (bpd).

Nigeria’s output on the other hand, was between 1.576 million bpd to 1.604 million bpd, in both cases the report cited secondary sources and direct communication for its latest figures.

‘‘Crude oil output increased the most in Iraq, Angola and Libya, whiles production in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela showed the largest decline,’‘ OPEC said.

Algeria lost the top producer spot to Nigeria in December 2016. Nigeria’s main problem with production was due to attacks by militants in the Niger Delta region on oil installations.

The government has opened talks with the militants leading to a quell in the frequency of attacks. Nigeria’s Mohammed Barkindo is the Secretary General of the OPEC. He was voted into office last year.

Despite Nigeria being in recession, OPEC stated that it had recorded a massive improvement in its economic outlook, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“In Nigeria, operating conditions in the country’s private sector improved in January for the first time in a year, as suggested by the Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria PMI,” OPEC said.

OPEC is an organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum.