Oil Prices Tumble to One-year Low, Begins Recovery After Rumoured Planned OPEC Cut FG Mulls Regional Summit on Farmers-Herders Conflict Dec. 12

Advises Nigerian travellers to US, Europe to be cautious of thieves

Oil prices yesterday tumbled to the lowest level since December

The federal government has said it was planning to hold a regional summit in Abuja on December 12 to adopt a common approach to addressing the farmers-herders conflict.

This is as the government has issued a new travel advisory, warning Nigerian travellers in the United States and the UK, some of whom were dispossessed of their belongings at high brow shops, particularly, in the high street of Oxford to take extra precaution and avoid being robbed of their belongings.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the fifth edition of the ‘PMB Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 Series’.

He described ranching as the easiest way to containing the farmersherders’ clashes in the country, adding the federal government was doing everything possible to contain the perennial farmers-herders strife that has often resulted in the loss of lives and property.

He said the federal government had embarked on an advocacy, strengthening Agro-Rangers and effective synergy among other security agencies to create a conducive environment for farmers in the rural communities.

Abubakar said President Muhammadu Buhari had also signed on the back of rising unrest in China, the world's biggest crude importer and consumer, clouding the outlook for energy demand. into law the National Agricultural Development Fund 2022, which would provide additional source of funding for the agricultural sector apart from budgetary allocation.

The minister, therefore, called on farmers in rural communities to form cooperative societies and approach the ministry for support or intervention.

In his opening address, the

West Texas Intermediate sank toward $74 a barrel following three weeks of losses, while Brent traded around $81 earlier in the day.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, noted that the advisory on theft was imperative given that Nigerians were often robbed of their belongings especially money and international passports in Europe and the US.

He lamented that the incidents had reached an increasingly high rate and therefore, the need for the advice.

However, it turned positive later in the day, recovering after falling to close to the lowest this year, as rumours of an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production cut offset concerns about street protests against strict COVID-19 curbs in China.

At the time of this report, WTI crude had risen 48 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $76.76 , after touching its lowest since December 22, at $73.60.

Also, Brent crude, Nigeria’s oil benchmark, rose 14 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to trade at $83.77 a barrel having slumped more than 3 per cent to $80.61 earlier in the session for its lowest since January 4.

Both benchmarks, which hit 10-month lows last week, have posted three consecutive weekly declines, Reuters reported.

"The word on the street is there's rumour that OPEC+ is already starting to float the idea of a production cut on Sunday," said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler. "That's helped reverse losses that were caused overnight by Chinese protests," he added.

OPEC and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, will meet on December 4, to decide the next line of action, but in October, the group agreed to reduce its output target by 2 million barrels per day through 2023.

China has stuck with President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy even as much of the world has lifted most restrictions, although recent events have now shown that the people are getting tired of the lockdowns.

Protests over harsh anti-virus curbs erupted across the world's largest crude importer over the weekend, including demonstrations in Beijing and Shanghai, spurring a broad sell-off in commodities as the week opened. The rare show of defiance is raising the threat of a government crackdown.

The unrest is coming after a sharp pullback in the oil market as the risk of a slowdown in China looms and the European Union floated a price cap on Russian crude that looks set to have minimal impact on trade.

Speculators have been forced to markedly reduce bullish bets, posting the sixth-largest reduction in net-long positions on record for Brent last week.

In Nigeria, the federal government continues to battle to increase production and meet its OPEC allocation of roughly 1.8 million barrels per day, although the country can barely drill 1 million bpd.