Global Oil Prices Up on Nigerian Polls

The controversies trailing Nigeria’s presidential elections, which held on the 21st day of April, 2007, has forced the prices of world crude oil to rise with the London Brent crude rising by $1.66 to $68.15 a barrel and U.S. crude up by $1.78 to $65.89.
  Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest exporter of crude oil and the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to the United States of America, which places it (Nigeria) as a major player in the world oil market.
  When Nigeria’s oil fields (majority of which is located in the Niger-Delta) are operating at full capacity, they have the potentials of producing 3-3.5 million barrels a day, approximately 3.2 percent of global oil consumption. However, production has been down to approximately 600,000 barrels per day, owing to the recent political unrest in the Niger-Delta.
  The question now is; for how long will this go on? Over the next couple of months, it is expected that the new government will have to deal particularly with challenges in courts and rerun some of the local elections that were annulled. Consequently, we are likely to see continued political unrest in the Niger-Delta regions, which will more or less disrupt Nigeria’s oil production even further. So what does the Nigerian government intend doing about the envisaged prolonged political crisis in the Niger-Delta?
  There is good news; Nigeria is a country where over 70% of the national budget comes from oil revenues and consequently, it will be in the interest of every leader to see to an uninterrupted production of crude oil. Royal Dutch Shell, Nigeria’s biggest foreign oil company, a couple of weeks ago announced that it would reopen its Forcados field by June/July this year. Should this aim be achieved, it would return Nigeria to producing close to 2.4 million barrels per day. It will therefore be in the interest of political leaders, to beef-up security within the Niger-Delta for the good of the nation. Also with the recently developed master plan for the Niger-Delta, it would be highly essential for the newly elected administration, when sworn in, to begin work on the Niger-Delta and see to the rapid development of the region. If this is an all-important region to the country and to the world, it is then essential to see to it that peace and sustainable development sweeps through the region.