Nigeria’s crude oil Bonny Light surged to $87.86 per barrel in March 2024 from $85.65 per barrel in the previous month, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
OPEC disclosed this in its Monthly Oil Market report, published on Thursday.
The figure represents a 2.6 per cent increase from the product’s price in February.
Meanwhile, Brent crude price soared above $90 a barrel during the period under review.
The surge comes amid heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East region following the Israel and Palestine war in the Gaza Strip.
In the report, OPEC stated that it maintained its forecast for strong global oil demand in 2024, anticipating a rise of 2.25 million barrels per day, bpd this year and a further increase of 1.85 million bpd in 2025.
“The global oil demand growth forecast for 2024 remains broadly unchanged from last month’s assessment of 2.2 mb/d. Slight adjustments were made to the 1Q24 data, with a slight upward revision in OECD Europe and some non-OECD data, reflecting better-than-expected performance in oil demand data. This increase was offset by a downward revision to Africa in 1Q24 and the Middle East in the first three quarters”, the report stated.
Meanwhile, crude oil sales remain Nigeria’s major foreign reserves booster.
