OPEC Production for February
Crude-oil production from the Organization of Petrol Exporting States has ramped up in February to its highest level since October 2008 as Saudi Arabia boosted output to soothe fears over Iranian supply interruptions. Crude production from the twelve members of the oil exporters ‘ group was up 95,000 barrels a day at 31.260 million barrels a day in Feb , according to a Dow Newswires survey of industry sources and researchers.
The output stayed at more than one million barrels above the thirty million barrels a day that OPEC agreed to produce at a meeting on Dec. Fourteen, and increased in spite of lower demand in the 1st half of this year.
In spite of the OPEC promise in December, Gulf members have not begun to noticeably scale back their output, but concerns of Iranian interruptions have now taken central stage. In the last few weeks, Iran has promised to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for mounting Western sanctions. Markets have also been roiled by issues over oil supply to Europe. Last month, Iran figuratively cut supplies to France and the U.K, which had already stopped purchasing its oil, and warned that it might pre-empt an embargo on its oil exports to the EU Union. Among the unstable backdrop, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf OPEC producers have promised to make up for any missing barrels. Saudi production rose by 175,000 barrels a day in Feb , the survey found.
At 9.8 million barrels a day, the kingdom’s output stays at levels not seen in thirty years.
Rising Gulf production comes in spite of Libyan output resuming quicker than most guesstimates. Libyan output averaged 1.37 million barrels a day in February, up 270,000 barrels a day.
TABLE OF OPEC OUTPUT – DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SURVEY (a)
(in millions of barrels a day)
Feb Jan Dec Nov Ceiling (b)
Saudi 9.800 9.625 9.700 10.047
Iran 3.470 3.500 3.550 3.525
UAE 2.540 2.600 2.600 2.550
Kuwait 2.950 2.900 2.800 2.725
Venezuela 2.500 2.300 2.300 2.390
Nigeria 1.950 1.950 2.200 2.200
Angola 1.800 1.850 1.800 1.850
Libya 1.370 1.100 0.900 0.480
Algeria 1.280 1.290 1.300 1.300
Qatar 0.800 0.850 0.800 0.850
Ecuador 0.485 0.500 0.500 0.500
Iraq 2.615 2.700 2.640 2.685
a. Dow Jones Newswires assesses OPEC output from data supplied by primary sources, traders and analysts. Totals may not add due to independent rounding of numbers.
b. Country quotas shown are those agreed at the OPEC meeting Dec. 17 2008. At its Dec. 14, 2011 meeting in Vienna, OPEC agreed a new production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day applying to all members, but without individual quotas for each country. The new ceiling takes effect from January.
Originally posted here
