Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Only OPEC Ministerial Meeting Can Increase Crude Oil Production – OPEC.............refutes 810,000 bpd increase


The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Tuesday morning disclosed that oil production in member countries remain at 30 million bpd.

The body said that reports in the media especially in Nigeria that it has increased production by 810,000 bpd are figures gathered from secondary sources.

 OPEC said that it might have been based on calculations gathered from its monthly oil market report which is based on marketers, secondary and independent sources.

TOTALNEWS247 gathered that the Head of OPEC media relations, Mr. James Griffin said that only at the ministerial meeting can the issue of crude oil production increase be discussed and decisions made. He further stated that production remains at 30 million bpd.

According to secondary sources, total OPEC crude oil production averaged 30.79 mb/d in March, an increase of 0.81 mb/d over the previous month. Crude oil output increased mostly from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, while Libya saw a return of about 165 tb/d from shut-in wells in active oil fields.

According to the secondary sources report, OPEC crude oil production, not including Iraq, stood at 27.16 mb/d in March, down by 0.49 mb/d over the previous month. 

TOTALNEWS247 gathered that independent markers and other secondary sources revealed that preliminary data in world oil supply indicates that global oil supply increased by 0.90 mb/d to average 94.52 mb/d in March 2015 compared with the previous month. The increase of non-OPEC supply as well as OPEC crude oil production in March caused the rise in global oil output. The share of OPEC crude oil in total global production increased by 0.6% to 32.6% in March, compared with the previous month.

According to the OPEC crude oil production report based on direct communication, there has been a decline in Nigeria's production by -112.7mb/d for the months of February/March 2015. While secondary sources     said the decline is -38mb/d.

The decline also affects all production in Africa as non-OPEC producers in Africa is expected to decline by 10 tb/d to average 2.41 mb/d. This indicates a downward revision by 10 tb/d compared with the last monthly report. Some growth is forecast in Congo as well as Equatorial Guinea at 10 tb/d each.

TOTALNEWS247learnt that this estimates are based on preliminary data for non-OPEC supply as well as OPEC NGLs and non-conventional from direct communications, while estimates for OPEC crude production come from secondary sources. 

OPEC President, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, at the 166th  Ordinary Meeting of the organization in Vienna, Austria, last November disclosed that world oil demand in 2015 will grow by around 1.1 million barrels per day, with total consumption at around 92.3 million barrels per day with the bulk of this net oil demand growth coming from non OECD countries.

The recent price developments signaled that the oil market is currently searching for stability and balance, which will be focus of deliberations at the next ministerial meeting scheduled for June 2015.

According to a top Iranian official, Iran, once OPEC's second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, hopes to boost crude exports by as much as 1 million barrels per day (bpd) if Tehran and six major powers finalize a nuclear agreement by a June 30 deadline.

Sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States have halved Iran's oil exports to just over 1 million barrels per day since 2012.




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