Following a series of oil production cuts aimed at boosting market prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected to raise its production ceiling in October from the current 21.7 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), a senior OPEC source told Platts.
OPEC members, who control two-thirds of the world’s oil exports, would make the final decision at their September 18 meeting. The cartel’s output increase is planned for the fourth quarter of the year, when oil demand is hiked by winter season in the northern hemisphere.
OPEC’s 10 members, excluding Iraq which is not bound by the output quotas, pumped an average 23.2 million bpd in June up from 23.1 million bpd in May, failing to meet their self-imposed 21.7 million bpd ceiling. OPEC’s output is expected to further rise in July and reach an overproduction of 1.9 million bpd, according to Geneva-based tanker trackers Petrologistics.
If production is increased, it would be the first output rise since March 2001, when OPEC implemented the first of a series of output slashes, aimed at defending its target price range, set in 2000 at $22-$28 per barrel. The OPEC basket of crudes stood at $24.98 per barrel on July 24. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
