Based on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) monthly report for February, African countries in aggregate performed better in oil production for January than their output for December in 2022.
The report also highlighted some interesting figures, including the revision of some prior economic forecasts, and the revision of projected oil performances for the year 2023.
Given the better-than-expected 2022 second-half (2H22) economic performance in numerous essential economies, the world economic growth prediction for 2022 has been revised up slightly to 3.1%. The global economic growth prediction for 2023 has also been revised up slightly to 2.6%, with some of the momenta from 2H22 spilling over into 2023.
In retrospect, the global oil demand growth prediction for 2022 remains unchanged from last month’s estimate of 2.5 million barrels per day.
Non-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) demand in the 4th quarter of 2022 was revised higher due to improvements in economic activity in several countries and a minor increase in oil consumption in China following the relaxation of its zero-COVID-19 policy.
For 2023, global oil demand growth is revised by 0.1 million barrels per day to 2.3 million barrels per day. The OECD is expected to increase by roughly 0.4 mb/d, whereas the non-OECD is expected to rise by about 2.0 mb/d.
Crude oil spot prices increased in January from low levels registered the previous month. According to secondary sources, total OPEC-13 crude oil output averaged 28.88 mb/d in January 2023, a 49 tb/d decrease from the previous month. Nigeria, Angola, and Kuwait produced the most crude oil, while Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and IR Iran produced the least.
In general, save Gabon, Libya, and Equatorial Guinea, 7 of the top African oil-producing countries had significantly better figures for January than they did, in December. This is owing to some improvements in the global energy market, most of which are detailed in OPEC’s report.
In Nigeria, despite sub-par numbers throughout 2022, and oil theft that has affected oil production, the country managed to perform better in the first month of 2023.
Below are the top oil-producing countries in Africa and details of their production output for January. The OPEC crude oil production is based on secondary sources, and the figures are represented in thousands of barrels per day (tb/d);
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Source: Pulse Ghana