Business Day: Oil sector in near death as FG’s grip leads to stagnation

Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is so badly mismanaged by the Federal Government which has total control over it, that even a free-fall in oil prices has been unable to get the bureaucrats and politicians overseeing the sector to advance long needed reforms.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, plunged 28 percent since June to $82.95 a barrel Friday, as the shale boom lifted U.S. production to the highest in at least 31 years and global demand slowed.

U.S. crude production expanded to 8.97 million barrels a day through Oct. 31, the Energy Information Administration said on Nov. 5, which is the most in weekly data going back to January 1983, according to the Energy Department’s statistical arm.

That compares with Nigerian production of 2 million barrels a day in October. U.S crude production has grown 46 percent since 2010, while Nigeria’s has remained flat over the period.
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