OPEC oil output falls 80,000 b/d in March, but still above target: Survey

The 10 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) bound by the group?s output agreements produced an average 26.54 million barrels per day (b/d) in March, a Platts survey showed April 11. This is down 80,000 b/d from February?s 26.62 million b/d but still 740,000 b/d above the group?s 25.8 million b/d production target.

Total production from all 12 members, including Iraq which does not participate in OPEC output pacts and Angola which joined the group at the beginning of this year, dipped by 70,000 b/d to 30.11 million b/d, the survey estimated.

?There certainly is no sign that higher prices are leading OPEC producers to put more oil on to the market,? said John Kingston, Platts Global Director of Oil. ?To the contrary, the steps the group took several months ago to restrain output are still firmly in place. And with the third and fourth quarters, which are historically demand-growth periods, just months away, it won?t be long before the group will be confronted with the question of whether to put more oil on to the market.?

Among the OPEC-10, there were small output increases from Indonesia and United Arab Emirates (UAE), but Nigeria, following the latest attack on oil facilities in the Niger Delta, saw overall production fall by about 100,000 b/d.

Iraqi volumes were slightly down on February, while Angolan production continued to rise.

OPEC ministers agreed last October to remove 1.2 million b/d of crude from world oil markets beginning in November, saying supply was well in excess of demand and setting a production target of 26.3 million b/d. In December, they agreed to expand the cut by 500,000 b/d from February, bringing the target to 25.8 million b/d. The cuts were based on estimated September production of 27.5 million b/d.

The latest survey shows that the OPEC-10 have cut supply by some 1.27 million b/d since September, when Platts estimates pegged production at 27.81 million b/d. (*)

		March 07	Feb 07	Jan 07	Dec 06	Cut
	Algeria	1.330	1.330	1.340	1.350	0.084
	Indonesia	0.850	0.840	0.860	0.860	0.055
	Iran	3.800	3.800	3.850	3.850	0.249
	Iraq	2.000	2.010	1660	1.900	-
	Kuwait	2.410	2.410	2.460	2.460	0.142
	Libya	1.680	1.680	1.690	1.700	0.102
	Nigeria	2.150	2.250	2.250	2.230	0.142
	Qatar	0.790	0.790	0.800	0.800	0.050
	Saudi Arabia	8.600	8.600	8.750	8.790	0.538
	UAE	2.500	2.490	2.500	2.500	0.143
	Venezuela	2.430	2.430	2.450	2.460	0.195
	OPEC 10 (excluding Iraq)	26.540	26.620	26.950	27.000	1.700
	Angola	1.570	1.550	1.500	N/A	N/A
	Total	30.110	30.180	30.110	28.900