Platts Survey: January OPEC Oil Output Fell to 28.97 Mil. Barrels Per Day
LONDON, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
The 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) pumped an average 28.97 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in
January, according to a Platts survey of OPEC, oil industry officials and
analysts just released. This is a decline of 930,000 b/d from the December
level of 29.9 million b/d.
Excluding Iraq, production from the 11 members bound by output agreements
fell by 970,000 b/d to 26.54 million b/d from the December estimate of 27.51
million b/d, the survey showed.
This leaves the OPEC-11 some 1.695 million b/d above its 24.845 million
b/d target, agreed to at OPEC's December 17 meeting in Oran, Algeria, and
which came into effect at the beginning of January.
"OPEC has managed to slash nearly a million barrels a day of production
over the past month," said Platts Global Director of Oil John Kingston. "It
still needs to cut a further 1.7 million barrels per day to reach its target.
The question now is whether ministers meeting in Vienna in just a month's
time will be willing to give the current agreement time to work or whether
there will be calls for new cuts."
OPEC's biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, accounted for the biggest single
cut, reducing its production by 340,000 b/d to 8.03 million b/d in January
from 8.37 million b/d in December.
Iran cut output by 140,000 b/d to average 3.7 million b/d, while Kuwaiti
output fell by 130,000 b/d to 2.33 million b/d.
Other countries cut by smaller volumes ranging from 10,000 b/d in the
case of Ecuador to 80,000 b/d in the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Iraqi supply rose by 40,000 b/d to average 2.43 million b/d, driven by
higher exports.
OPEC is next scheduled to meet on March 15 in Vienna.
For production numbers by country, view this table
related and other energy information visit Platts online.
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SOURCE: Platts
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