Nigeria’s oil-funded budget faces fresh pressure after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut its 2026 global oil demand growth forecast for the fifth consecutive month. In its latest monthly report, OPEC reduced its global oil demand growth forecast for 2026 by more than 70 per cent, from 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 400,000 bpd, reflecting weaker-than-anticipated demand growth during the year. The revised outlook was disclosed on Monday by OPEC secretary-general Haitham Al Ghais during a ministerial session titled Perspectives on Global Oil and Gas Markets at the 25th WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The cumulative cut since April is about one million bpd, from nearly 1.4 million bpd. That is a fall of more than 70 per cent in five months. The weakness is concentrated in the richer economies. OPEC expects demand in OECD countries to shrink by about 110,000 bpd this year, while non-member economies grow by about 490,000 bpd. The group linked the repeated downgrades to the Middle East conflict, which continues to change energy consumption patterns. Weaker demand tends to hold down crude prices, and Nigeria’s budget depends on both price and output. Leadership