According to a recent disclosure by a Bloomberg news survey, the December crude oil production in Nigeria marked the largest leap among the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – showing a rise of 100,000 barrels a day to an average 2.005 million bpd during the month.

Touching the highest level since March 2008, the crude oil production figures for the country during December surpassed its OPEC target by 332,000 bpd. Last year, production quotas had been slashed by OPEC by 4.2 million barrels to 24.845 million barrels per day.

The Bloomberg survey said that the notable rise in Nigeria’s crude oil production for December can largely been attributed to a truce as well as amnesty agreement with the country leading militant outfit - Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

Meanwhile, the crude oil production in Kuwait during December exceeded its quota by 28,000 bpd, rising 35,000 bpd to 2.25 million bpd; and the figures for the United Arab Emirates increased by
10,000 barrels to 2.27 million bpd - exceeding the country’s quota by 47,000 bpd.

However, a cut in production was witnessed in Iraq, which isn’t subject to a quota, as level as Saudi Arabia - OPEC’s foremost producer. While Iraq’ month-over-month production of crude oil declined 50,000 bpd to 2.35 million bpd in December; Saudi Arabia’s production fell 40,000 barrels to 8.15 million bpd.