OPEC Output Hits New Low

  • 7/6/2019
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Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries oil output sank to a new five-year low in June as a rise in supply did not offset losses in Iran and Venezuela due to US sanctions and other outages elsewhere in the group, a Reuters survey found. Saudi Arabia has pumped 9.782 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in June, an OPEC source said on Friday, up from 9.67 million bpd in May. The world’s top oil exporter kept its crude production below its output target of 10.3 million bpd under an OPEC-led global oil reduction pact, to reduce inventories and support prices. The 14-member OPEC pumped 29.60 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, the survey showed, down 170,000 bpd from May’s revised figure and the lowest OPEC total since 2014. Despite lower supplies, crude oil has fallen from a six-month high above $75 a barrel in April, pressured by concern about slowing economic growth. Oil futures rose on Friday. Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled at $64.23 a barrel, up 93 cents, or 1.47 percent. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 settled at $57.51 a barrel, up 17 cents. OPEC, Russia and other non-members, known as OPEC+, agreed in December to reduce supply by 1.2 million bpd from Jan. 1 this year. OPEC’s share of the cut is 800,000 bpd, to be delivered by 11 members - all except Iran, Libya and Venezuela. OPEC and its allies agreed on Tuesday to extend oil output cuts until March 2020, as the global economy weakened and US production soared. In June, the 11 OPEC members bound by the agreement achieved 156% of pledged cuts, the Reuters survey found, more than in May, due to lower production in Iraq, Kuwait and Angola. All three of the exempt producers also pumped less oil. The United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and six world powers. Aiming to cut Iran’s sales to zero, Washington this month ended sanctions waivers for importers of Iranian oil. Iran’s crude exports have declined to less than 400,000 bpd from more than 2.5 million bpd in April 2018. In Venezuela, supply fell slightly in June due to the impact of US sanctions on state oil company PDVSA and a long-term decline in production, according to the survey. Among countries pumping more, Saudi Arabia boosted supply by 100,000 bpd to 9.8 million bpd from May’s revised figure, the survey found. This is still below its OPEC quota of 10.311 bpd. Output also rose in Nigeria - which last month overproduced its target by the largest margin. June output was the lowest by OPEC since April 2014, excluding membership changes that have taken place since then, Reuters surveys show. The Reuters survey aims to track supply to the market and is based on shipping data provided by external sources, Refinitiv Eikon flows data and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consulting firms.

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