Business
Nigeria, Others Cut Oil Supply By 1.6bn Barrels
Nigeria and other participating oil-producing countries across the globe reduced the global supply of crude oil by 1.6billion barrels since May this year, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has said.
The OPEC’s Secretary-General, Muhammad Barkindo, disclosed this during a videoconference of the Crescent Ideas Forum with the theme, ‘The Outlook on Energy’.
In his address, which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja, yesterday, the OPEC boss said the reduction in crude oil supply was taken in the interest of consumers, investors and global economy.
He said, “Since May, the production adjustments undertaken by the participating countries have helped reduce the global supply by around 1.6billion barrels, a truly impressive feat given the economic uncertainty overshadowing the industry.
“I would like to stress that these efforts were undertaken not just for the good of the DoC (Declaration of Cooperation) participating countries, but in the wider interests of consumers, investors and the global economy in general. There can be no recovery without market stability, and no one stands to benefit from volatility.”
In April, OPEC delivered an unprecedented response to an unparalleled market shock, by adjusting output down by 9.7million barrels per day or roughly 10 per cent global demand at the time.
These efforts were spearheaded by leaders of major world oil producers and further supported by the G20, in the spirit of solidarity, at the group’s Extraordinary Energy Ministerial Meeting on April 10, 2020.
In June, the DoC re-affirmed the importance of these contributions to overall market stability and full participation in the agreed adjustments.
In addition, the participating countries agreed to a fair and effective compensation mechanism for those who were unable to achieve 100 per cent conformity in the first months of the agreement.
“These provisions stand out as a remarkable acknowledgement of both the commitment by these countries to support the market, and the scale of the challenge,” Barkindo stated.
He added, “There is no doubt in my mind that these decisive and proactive efforts helped put the oil market back on stable footing.
“In doing so, the DoC provided much-needed support to the global economy as it began to pick up steam in the third quarter of this year.”
Barkindo observed that OPEC members began this year on an optimistic note, optimistic about the global economy and healthy oil market growth.
He, however, stated that OPEC’s 2020 vision did not foresee the devastating impact of the coronavirus, the deadly toll it had taken across the world, nor the blow it had dealt to many economic sectors, especially crude oil.
He said, “In this respect, our OPEC outlook for 2020 oil demand is now slightly above 90million barrels per day.
“This represents a sharp decline of nearly 10 million barrels per day from where we started the year, and almost an 11million barrels per day contraction compared to what we forecast for the year back in January.”
Barkindo added, “In 2021, we expect growth to bounce back to 6.2million barrels per day, to just over 96million barrels per day, compared to our pre-Coronavirus expectations for demand reaching almost 102million barrels per day next year.”
He explained that the recent revisions were due to the easing pace of the economic recovery and recent Covid-19 containment measures, which were assumed to impact transportation and industrial fuel demand well into next year.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
