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OPEC April Output Up, But Well Below Pre-Libya Conflict Level

OPEC April Output Up, But Well Below Pre-Libya Conflict Level
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Τετ, 4 Μαΐου 2011 - 16:55
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' total oil production rose slightly in April, but only because of a significant downward reappraisal to Saudi Arabia's March output, a Dow Jones Newswires survey shows. The group's production remained well below the level from prior to the Libyan civil war.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' total oil production rose slightly in April, but only because of a significant downward reappraisal to Saudi Arabia 's March output, a Dow Jones Newswires survey shows. The group's production remained well below the level from prior to the Libyan civil war.

Total production from the 12 OPEC members in April was 28.748 million barrels a day, up 0.6% from 28.585 million barrels a day in March, analysts said. The single biggest driver of this was an estimated increase in Saudi oil production of 258,000 barrels a day from the previous month, to 8.55 million barrels a day in total.

This level of Saudi crude oil production is actually below the March survey rate. However, Saudi Arabia 's Oil Minister, Ali Al-Naimi, revealed last month that most estimates for March output were around 700,000 barrels a day too high.

Analysts had estimated Saudi output at 9.05 million barrels a day in March, following a production hike to make up for the loss of Libyan supplies. However, Al-Naimi revealed that Saudi Arabia had soon reversed this production increase and produced just 8.292 million barrels a day in March.

Analysts said the picture remains unclear. "Owing to conflicting statements emerging from Saudi Arabia , the country's oil output in recent months remains somewhat of a puzzle," said JBC Energy in a research note.

Total OPEC production remained more than 1.5 million barrels a day lower than its level before the civil war in Libya shut down much of the oil production there. Libya produced just 225,000 barrels of oil a day in April, the survey said, compared with 1.396 million barrels a day in February.

"The emerging stalemate in Libya suggests that oil production will remain at subdued levels for the rest of this quarter and most probably the next," said Jean-Luc Amos, crude oil supply analyst at KBC.

Nigeria produced an extra 132,000 barrels of oil in April, the survey said, easing fears that elections there would cause an increase in attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta.

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