The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, on Friday, rejected the move by the Senate Committee on Appropriation to increase the crude oil production benchmark in the 2024 Appropriation Bill from 1.7 million barrels per day to 1.8 mb/d.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Solomon Adeola, had suggested this during the budget defence session between his committee and the management of the NNPCL.
On November 29, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presented a N27.5 trillion Appropriation Bill with an average crude oil production benchmark of 1.78 mb/d and a crude oil price benchmark of $77.96.
The NNPCL GCEO told the committee that the oil giant would stick to the benchmark approved by President Tinubu in the Appropriation Bill.
Kyari submitted that the crude oil price and production benchmarks were based on global dynamics.
He said, “I will advise that we stick to the submission of Mr President on the quota. We will not get crude oil (for) less than $70.
“Once economies are growing, there will be sustained demands for crude oil in our country and other countries”.
Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission showed that Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped to 1.56 million barrels per day in October from 1.57 million bpd in September this year.
DAILY POST gathered that the price rose for the first time in weeks by two per cent to $75.84 a barrel for Brent Crude as US data projected a demand hike.
