By Tsvetana Paraskova of Oilprice.com

Nigeria should market its crude oil to new buyers as the UAE’s decision to leave OPEC is dislocating the balance that the cartel and the OPEC+ group have been seeking for years, according to Wole Ogunsanya, chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN).

The official urged Nigeria’s state oil and gas firm NNPC and other producers of Nigerian crude to tap new markets.

“When OPEC gives you a quota, it’s left for you to find who is going to buy it,” Nigerian outlet This Day quoted Ogunsanya as saying.

“And we have one of the best crude oil in the world. So we need NNPC and all producers to market Nigerian production,” the official added.

The abrupt exit of the United Arab Emirates from OPEC and OPEC+ would disrupt the balance the groups have been keeping for years, according to Ogunsanya.

“The decision by the UAE, which they have a sovereign right to do, is for their country’s interest. Our opinion is that it’s going to cause a dislocation of that equilibrium, the ability of OPEC and OPEC+, to manage the price of oil,” he added.

The UAE quit OPEC effective May 1 to pursue its national interests after years of quarreling with fellow cartel members over output quotas and their share of total production capacity.

For years, the UAE has been working to boost its crude oil production capacity to 5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2027. The UAE insisted that it should be allowed in the OPEC and OPEC+ production deals to actually use more of its growing spare capacity. The country, alongside Saudi Arabia, is one of the few in the region – and the world – that held spare production capacity before the Middle East conflict began.

Nigeria, for its part, has struggled to pump to its quota in recent years as sabotage often led to force majeure at major export streams. However, with a recent crackdown on oil theft and sabotage in the Niger Delta, Nigeria has managed to increase crude production and aims for further growth by 2030.