The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva has left Nigeria on Thursday for Equatorial Guinea on the start of his four-nation shuttle to oil-producing countries that include Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville and South Sudan within the week.
Two weeks ago, OPEC announced the appointment of Nigeria’s Sylva to act as its Special Envoy to the four countries. Sylva’s mission is to discuss issues of compliance cuts which the organization has been using to stabilize oil price which had at the peak of the global COVID-19 pandemic had plummeted to $10 per barrel.
The 60-year old organization however rallied together and undertook cuts among its members and also persuaded its powerful allies such as Russia to do the same.
Gradually, demand improved and prices began to rise until they reached the current impressive level of about $60 per barrel. The choice of Temipre Sylva is seen by analysts as a way of rewarding Nigeria African giant nation for beating daunting odds to achieve full compliance with OPEC cuts, despite its other economic challenges.
Minister Sylva is expected back in Nigeria next week.
