Nigeria Peg Oil at $42.5, Production at 2.2 mln bpd

Nigeria is assuming an oil benchmark price of $42.5 per barrel for 2017, $45 in 2018 and $50 in 2019 for its budget calculations, the budget minister said on Monday.

Nigeria, an OPEC member, has been hit by a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the southern Niger Delta energy hub since January that have cut oil production, which was 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) at the start of the year, by 700,000 bpd.

Udoma Udoma also said the country assumes oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2017, 2.3 million bpd in 2018 and 2.4 million bpd in 2019.

"These are our key assumptions for the 2017 to 2019 medium term expenditure framework," he said, addressing a forum in the capital, Abuja. "We are also looking an exchange rate of 290 naira per dollar in 2017, 290 in 2018 and same 290 in 2019."

The West African country's 2016 budget assumes oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day at 38 dollars a barrel.

Attacks on Nigeria's energy facilities have exacerbated the impact of the sharp fall in global oil prices which sparked a crisis in Africa's biggest economy because the country relies on crude sales for around 70 percent of government revenue and 90 percent of foreign earnings.

Reporting by Felix Onuah and Alexis Akwagyiram