Excluding Iraq, OPEC output jumps almost 100,000 BPD in June: Survey

OPEC's eleven members, including Iraq, pumped an average 24.84 million barrels per day (MBPD) in June, down 80,000 barrels per day (BPD) from May's 24.92 MBPD, a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials showed.

But the survey showed that, excluding Iraq, the ten members bound by output quotas under a 21.7 MBPD ceiling boosted their combined output by 90,000 BPD to 23.22 MBPD in June from 23.13 MBPD in May.

These ten members have failed to meet their 21.7 MBPD ceiling since it came into effect at the beginning of January this year. Apart from the OPEC 10's initial effort to slash its production by 1.26 MBPD of combined crude output between December 2001 and January 2002, followed by further slight drops of 60,000 BPD between January and February and 30,000 BPD between March and

April, production has increased. The June total for the OPEC 10 leaves them

1.52 MBPD in excess of their ceiling.

The net 80,000 BPD drop in total OPEC output in June was attributable to lower volumes from Iraq, whose production slipped to 1.62 MBPD from 1.79 MBPD in May. Baghdad has complained that the UN's retroactive pricing system is deterring buyers because they do not know what their costs will be when they lift the oil.

"The drop in Iraqi exports is yet one more sign of the never-ending standoff between Iraq and the UN," commented John Kingston, Platts' global director of oil. "Iraq does not like the way the UN administers the pricing of Iraqi barrels under the oil for food deal. The UN does not like the fact that Iraq asks for a surcharge from its buyers outside the UN plan. As long as this continues, the monthly numbers for Iraq will be highly volatile."

Nigeria saw a small, 30,000 BPD month-on-month fall in volumes. Venezuelan production, having been boosted under government orders by 200,000 BPD to 2.68 MBPD in May, eased slightly to 2.67 MBPD. This leaves Caracas more than 170,000 BPD in excess of its 2.497 MBPD quota.

Five countries increased output by a combined 130,000 BPD, with individual increases ranging from 10,000 BPD in the case of Kuwait and Libya to 60,000 BPD in the case of Saudi Arabia. No member country produced within quota, although Indonesia was just a shade above its allocation.

Country-by-country breakdown of production with figures in millions of b/d

Country	June 02	May 02	April 02	March 02	Feb. 02	Quota
Algeria	0.850	0.830	0.810	0.800	0.790	0.693
Indonesia	1.130	1.130	1.140	1.140	1.150	1.125
Iran	3.400	3.370	3.340	3.380	3.330	3.186
Iraq	1.620	1.790	1.210	2.510	2.500	N/A
Kuwait	1.890	1.880	1.870	1.850	1.840	1.741
Libya	1.320	1.310	1.300	1.290	1.280	1.162
Nigeria	1.870	1.900	1.950	1.970	1.960	1.787
Qatar	0.640	0.640	0.620	0.600	0.590	0.562
Saudi Arabia	7.490	7.430	7.430	7.370	7.240	7.053
UAE	1.960	1.960	1.970	1.960	1.950	1.894
Venezuela	2.670	2.680	2.480	2.580	2.560	2.497
Total	24.840	24.920	24.120	25.450	25.190
OPEC 10 (excl IRAQ)	23.220	23.130	22.910	22.940	22.690	21.70

(Voccess)