The current Oil price has dropped below the $8 a barrel benchmark going by the 2016 budget proposal submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari based on $38/barrel.
President Buhari pegged the oil benchmark at $38/ barrel but the gap currently is about 21 per cent of the amount proposed.
Crude oil prices lost more than 2 per cent on Tuesday,January 11 extending a relentless selloff to trade within cents of $30 a barrel for the first time in 12 years on concerns about fragile Chinese demand and the absence of restraint in global production.
Analysts from some major banks have cut their 2016 oil forecasts to as low as $10 per barrel.
Benchmark Brent crude fell to a low of $30.43 per barrel, a level not traded at since April 2004. It was at $30.65, down 90 cents, at 11:43 a.m. EDT (1643 GMT).
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude(WTI) fell to a low of $30.10, which was last seen in December 2003, and last fetched $30.26, down $1.15.
Crude firmed in early trade after a deadly suicide bombing rocked central Istanbul. Traders said support also came after Nigeria’s oil minister commented that a “couple” of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members had requested an emergency meeting.
