Nigeria: Energy Expert Welcomes Oil Output Increase

A string of reactions have trailed the proposed plan by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) currently meeting in Vienna, Austria, to increase oil output to 500,000 barrels by November 1, 2007 and the U.S. Congress seeking to declare the organization illegal.

Energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in Washington DC, Alex Iannaccone told THISDAY that the increase in oil production is a welcome development to the U.S. and any other consuming nation including China and India but maintains this does not solve a long term problem.
According to Iannacone, “any increase in production is a welcome development for a consuming Nation – be it the United States, China or India – but the fact remains that massive exploration, investment and infrastructure development needs to happen if supply is to keep pace with demand.”

Iannaccone went further to state that the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act 2007 (NOPEC) which would allow lawsuits to be brought against OPEC members in U.S. courts (when and if it becomes law), amounts to an infringment on a country’s sovereignty.

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