Crude Oil Price Hits $82 Per Barrel, Raises FG’s Hope To Implement N27.5tn Budget

Crude oil prices rose on Thursday morning by 2.22 per cent in one week giving the federal government the hope of executing Its budget for 2024.

Brent crude rose to $80.69 per cent from the $78.92 traded on January 19. West Texas Intermediate Crude price also rose to $75.81 by 10:06am on Thursday.

Nigerian crude oil variant, Bonny Light rose to $80.95 per barrel while Brass River and Qua Iboe rose sold for $81.73 and $81.98/pb.

The development in crude prices is a boost to the Nigerian government which largely relies on crude oil proceeds for over 90 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings.

The government hopes to spend a record budget of N27.5tn in 2024 which will be largely financed by N18.32tn revenue projected for 2024 while the deficit will be financed through debt.

The FG’s crude oil benchmark was estimated at $77.96 per barrel and daily oil production was estimated at 1.78 million barrels per day.

The crude oil forecast assumes that all evacuation lines will be operational as the security situation is expected to improve.

The government estimated that out of the aggregate revenue, N7.94tn or 43.3 per cent is projected to come from oil-related sources while the balance of N10.39tn is to be earned from non-oil sources.