Crude oil seaborne exports from West Africa slumped below 3.5 million barrels per day in October, down from 3.84 million bpd in September as the continent’s major producer, Nigeria, struggled to increase its production and exports, hampered primarily by local disruptions. Documents show that the country witnessed the sharpest crude oil production decline among all members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in October 2021. The fall observed in Nigeria’s crude oil output, estimated to have surpassed 70,000 bpd, followed a force majeure declared by Shell, which halted loadings of Bonny Light crude after a pipeline shut down. Nigeria’s unstable production could become one of the biggest obstacles for OPEC+ efforts to increase supply by the end of this year. The country’s total production capacity stands above 2.2 million bpd of crude and condensate, with a plan to reach 1.75 million b/d by early 2022, from an […]