THE price of Nigeria’s Bonny Light has risen marginally from the $57.00, recorded last week to $59.55 per barrel, yesterday, as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, intensifies efforts to achieve stability in the volatile market.

Bonny Light

Despite the leap, the current price still indicates $0.45 below the $60.00 benchmark of 2019 budget of  N8.91 trillion.

Many close watchers of the market believe that it would be impossible for oil price to hit its peak this year because of many factors, including excess supply from some nations.

In its latest report,Global Energy Survey, obtained by Vanguard, the Oil and Gas Council, identified North America’s continued high levels of supply, global economic slowdown and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, behaviour as the major factors that would hold down price in 2019.

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It stated: “Last year’s optimism around growth has been tempered in 2019’s results, showing only 27percent of respondents expecting slow steady growth versus 50 per cent the previous year. This is perhaps unsurprising, following the year’s continued oil price fluctuations.

“However, it is still encouraging to see only a small percentage of respondents who believe we will see progressive weakening in the oil markets.

“The question of pricing led us on to ask what would be the biggest driver of price rises over the next three years. The runaway answer here was the threat of political instability and on-going supply.

“Many respondents commented on the importance of geo-political factors including volatility in the Middle East and Africa. The second highest answer was around the lack of investment creating a bottleneck on core projects coming to meet demand.”

Vanguard