Overproduction by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s member nations rose to 2.78-million barrels per day (bpd) in October, up from 2.26 million bpd in September, a Platts survey of the cartel and oil industry showed.
According to Platt’s Oilgram News Editor-in-Chief, Peter Zipf, overproduction has increased significantly in recent months, which in turn has kept prices from rising.
The survey estimated that total output by the OPEC ten at 24.48 million bpd, is up by 520,000 bpd from September's 23.96 million bpd. Including Iraq, which accounted for half of October's increase, OPEC produced 26.93 million bpd in October, an increase of 1.02 million bpd from September's 25.91-million bpd.
Iraq's production for October was the highest since March at 2.45 million bpd. Iraqi exports have been increasing since the end of the summer following Baghdad's move to phase out an illegal surcharge that had deterred buyers.
Iranian volumes also saw an increase, from 3.38 million bpd in September to 3.59 million bpd in October.
Saudi Arabia boosted output from 7.72 million bpd in September to 7.9 million bpd in October. Other smaller increases came from Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Venezuela.
Algerian output rose further in October to average 950,000 bpd. Participants in the survey largely dismissed any suggestion that Algeria was yet capable of producing more than one million bpd. Algeria has asked OPEC to raise its quota from 693,000 bpd to 1.1-million bpd.
Platts is a provider of energy information and marketing services, with 14 offices worldwide. Platts offerings cover the oil, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, coal, petrochemical and metals markets. Every day, more than $10 billion of trading activity and term contract sales are based on Platts' price assessments. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
