Angola again overtakes Nigeria

On Monday, OPEC’s monthly production report revealed that Angolan oil output had once again surpassed Nigeria’s in January.

Angola produced more than 1.65 million bopd according to secondary sources and nearly 1.62 million bopd according to direct communications. Nigeria’s output represents a significant rise over December: nearly 1.58 million bopd according to secondary sources, or more than 1.6 million bopd according to direct communications.

Sonangol announced Angola had decreased its production by 78,000 bopd in January 2016 as part of the OPEC agreement to decrease output. Nigeria is exempt from the agreement supply-cut deal agreed in late November 2016 due to the ongoing unrest in the Niger Delta , the main factor behind its lower output.

“In Nigeria, operating conditions in the country’s private sector improved in January for the first time in a year, as suggested by the Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria PMI,” the report added.

The two countries traded the mantle of top African producer over 2016 and were tied according to secondary sources in December 2016.