The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and its allies popularly known as OPEC+, recorded a drop of 440,000 barrels per day, bpd oil output in March 2023, due to developments in Nigeria and Russia.

Specifically, the situation was fueled by pipeline vandalism, oil theft and illegal refining in Nigeria as well as the Russian - Ukraine war, which culminated in the ban of Russian oil.

In its report obtained by Vanguard, yesterday, the Energy Intelligence, stated: "The bulk of the decline came from Russia and Nigeria, which together accounted for 440,000 b/d, or almost two-thirds, of the monthly reduction."

The report also disclosed that the two nations and other factors culminated in the total drop of 680,000 bpd experienced in the past 10 months.

It stated: "Crude oil output in March by OPEC-plus members taking part in the production agreement saw its steepest fall in 10 months, or 680,000 b/d, to 37.64 million b/d, according to Energy Intelligence's assessment.

"March production was 2.5 million b/d short of the alliance's target for the month, the largest shortfall since October."

Analysts and market watchers, yesterday, said the continued pressure on the two nations would have a prolonged impact on the global oil market.

Already, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of OPEC that reviewed the crude oil production data for the months of January and February 2023, noted the overall conformity for participating OPEC and non-OPEC countries of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC).

In a statement obtained by Vanguard, the JMMC, stated: "The Members of the JMMC reaffirmed their commitment to the DoC which extends to the end of 2023 as decided at the 33rd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) on 5th of October 2022, and urged all participating countries to achieve full conformity and adhere to the compensation mechanism."