Oil price: OPEC meets today to determine production quota

Amidst dwindling glob­al crude oil prices, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Coun­tries (OPEC) is meeting today to deliberate on the development and possibly set new production quota for member countries.

The 166th OPEC confer­ence will, among other issues, deliberate on ways to lift crude oil prices which have plunged by about one-third in value since June to about $74.24 a barrel as at Tuesday.
Oil prices have collapsed to four-year lows on factors, including dampening demand in a sluggish world economy, a sharp rise in output from shale oil and other unconventional sources, and a strong dollar.
In Nigeria, the drop in crude price is already taking a toll on the economy and the Fed­eral Government has rolled out austerity measures to cushion its effect on government rev­enue. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, while announcing the belt tightening measures to be implemented by government, insisted that it was on top of the situation, assuring there was no cause for panic.
Okonjo-Iweala also an­nounced that government was revisiting the $78 per barrel price provided for in the Me­dium Term Economic Frame­work (MTEF) proposed for 2015 budget.
The figure, she said, would now be revised and a new figure of $73 per barrel was now proposed to the National Assembly. In the meantime, she said government would take money from the excess crude account to absorb some immediate shocks, noting that printing more naira notes was not part of Aso Rock’s con­sideration. But despite assur­ances from the Minister that government was on top of the situation, the reality on ground as regards the direction of the economy as at the moment suggests otherwise.