OPEC+ Appoints Nigeria's Oil Minister As Special Envoy For Africa - Statement

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) has appointed Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva as the alliance's special envoy for consultations with the African participants in the oil cuts agreement, OPEC said in a statement on Wednesday.

"In line with the principles of fairness, transparency and equity that underpin the [OPEC+], the JMMC has mandated the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources of Nigeria, HE Timipre Sylva, to undertake a mission as Special Envoy to the following Participating Countries: Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and South Sudan," OPEC said.

As the African countries participating in the OPEC+ agreement tend to have low levels of compliance with the oil cuts, the Nigerian minister would be responsible for discussing with them the compensation mechanism, introduced by the alliance to allow the underperformers to offset shortcomings in terms of slashing the oil output, according to the statement.

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"The purpose of this mission is to hold consultations with the respective leaders of these countries on the [OPEC+] market rebalancing efforts. In particular, the Special Envoy will discuss matters pertaining to conformity levels with the voluntary production adjustments and explore how Participating Countries can collectively support and assist each other in achieving full conformity with their supply adjustments," OPEC noted.

Nigeria, itself struggling sometimes to comply with the oil cuts, is the largest oil producer in Africa. This year, the country will celebrate its 50th anniversary of being an OPEC member.

According to the latest International Energy Agency estimates, Nigeria's compliance with the OPEC+ oil cuts in December stood at 173 percent as it was compensating for the shortcomings in the previous months. At the same time, Equatorial Guinea complied by 74 percent, Congo by 76 percent, while Gabon failed to comply with the oil cuts as its conformity turned negative in December.