Platts Survey: OPEC Oil Output Up Slightly in June, Well Above Target

Platts Survey: OPEC Oil Output Up Slightly in June, Well Above Target

July 12, 2007

    LONDON, July 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The 10 members
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
bound by the group's crude oil output agreements boosted
production by 40,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 26.6 million
b/d in June, from a revised May level of 26.56 million b/d,
a Platts survey showed July 11. This is well above the 25.8
million b/d production target set in February by the
so-called OPEC-10.

    Total OPEC output, including volumes from Iraq and new
member Angola, averaged 30.22 million b/d in June, slightly
higher than a revised figure of 30.21 million b/d for May,
the survey showed. Iraq does not participate in OPEC output
agreements, while Angola, whose membership of the group
began in January, has yet to accept or be allocated any
output target.

    Small volume increases totalling 80,000 b/d from
Angola, Iran, Nigeria and the UAE were almost completely
offset by output decreases totalling 70,000 b/d from Iraq,
Indonesia and Venezuela.

    Nigerian production in May has been revised downward to
2.05 million b/d from 2.13 million b/d. In June, the survey
found Nigerian production to have risen to 2.08 million b/d
from the revised May level.

    The International Energy Agency has called on OPEC to
increase production ahead of the winter to ensure consumer
stocks are adequate. OPEC has insisted that there is no
current need for additional supply from its members but
that it stands ready to produce more crude if this becomes
necessary.

    "Given what groups such as the International
Energy Agency are saying is required for supply and demand
to stay balanced in the second half of the year, consumers
can't view this latest report as anything but
discouraging," says John Kingston, Platts global
director of oil. "Particularly worrisome is the fact
that in the best one-step-forward-one-step-back practice,
the production gains that were recorded were offset by
losses elsewhere, including Venezuela. A supply- demand
balance that many see as a squeeze now, could be much
tighter by the end of the year." 

    OPEC is next scheduled to meet on September 11 in
Vienna, where it has its headquarters. The group last met
in mid-March, when it decided to keep in place the nominal
1.7 million b/d in output curbs agreed late last year.

    Country      June        May        April      March   
February     Cut
    Algeria     1.350      1.350        1.330      1.330   
   1.330   0.084
    Indonesia   0.830      0.840        0.840      0.850   
   0.840   0.055
    Iran        3.880      3.850        3.800      3.800   
   3.800   0.249
    Kuwait      2.420      2.420        2.410      2.410   
   2.410   0.142
    Libya       1.680      1.680        1.680      1.680   
   1.680   0.102
    Nigeria     2.080      2.050 r      2.200      2.150   
   2.250   0.142
    Qatar       0.800      0.800        0.790      0.790   
   0.790   0.050
    Saudi 
     Arabia     8.610      8.610        8.600      8.600   
   8.600   0.538
    UAE         2.550      2.540        2.500      2.500   
   2.490   0.143
    Venezuela   2.400      2.420        2.420      2.430   
   2.430   0.195
    OPEC-10    26.600     26.560 r     26.570     26.540   
  26.620   1.700
    Angola*     1.640      1.630        1.580      1.570   
   1.550     N/A  
    Iraq        1.980      2.020        2.040      2.000   
   2.010     N/A  
    Total      30.220     30.210 r     30.190     30.110   
  30.180          

    ** Angola joined OPEC on January 1, 2007

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