FG’s N26 trillion budget gets a boost as oil price surges to $81.11
Barely a few days to the commencement of the 2024 fiscal year, hope appears rekindled in the revenue horizon as the price of Nigeria’s Bonny Light, rose to $81.11 per barrel, from $78 per barrel it closed last week, indicating an excess of $3.15 per barrel against the 2024 budget reference price of $77.96 per barrel.
The nation’s N26 trillion 2024 budget, benchmarked on $77.96 per barrel and 1.78 million barrels per day, bpd was threatened in the past two weeks when the oil price became unstable trending down to the budget benchmark price.
Price of Bonny Light rose to $81.11 per barrel on the Red Sea attacks that culminated in shipping disruptions, thus fuelling the speculation in favour of high prices.
However, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, indicated that oil output fell by 7.4 percent to 1.25 million barrels per day in the month of November 2023, compared to 1.35bpd in September 2023.
This means the pressure point has shifted to output level as this may undermine the realization of the targeted revenue if it persists into 2024.
But the newly appointed board and management team for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) has pledged to produce two million barrels of crude oil daily from 2024.
The Chairman of NNPCL, Pius Akinyelure, stated: “We have just concluded our inauguration ceremony by Mr President and we have assured him of our collective efforts to turn around the fortune of the Oil and Gas.
