The price of crude oil has rose to $59 per barrel on Wednesday following remarks by Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi’s Energy minister, that the focus remained on reducing oil stocks in industrialised countries to their five-year average.
His statement had raised the prospect of prolonged output restraint once the supply-cutting pact led by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, ends.
This coincides with comments that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has restated the commitment of the country to exit petroleum products importation in the medium term and urged downstream operators to invest heavily in retail outlets to take advantage of the potential opportunities.
Brent crude had risen to $58.41 per barrel as at Wednesday, with US crude rising to $52.46.
Al-Falih said at an investors’ conference in Riyadh on Tuesday that global oil demand was expected to grow by 45 per cent by 2050 despite an international push for using more renewable sources of energy.
OPEC, Russia and nine other producers, have cut oil output by about 1.8 million barrels per day, bpd, since January.
The pact runs to March 2018 and they are considering extending it.