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EIA: Outages Cutting August Global Oil Supply by 2.8 Million B/D

EIA: Outages Cutting August Global Oil Supply by 2.8 Million B/D
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Παρ, 30 Αυγούστου 2013 - 17:44
Unplanned outages are cutting world oil supplies by 2.8 million barrels a day in August, up from 2.6 million barrels a day in July, according to a U.S. government report issued Thursday.
Unplanned outages are cutting world oil supplies by 2.8 million barrels a day in August, up from 2.6 million barrels a day in July, according to a U.S. government report issued Thursday.

The Energy Information Administration said the volume of disruption is at least the highest since January 2011.

Outages at oil producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged two million barrels a day in July and August, the EIA said. That was the highest level of disrupted supply since at least January 2009, the EIA said.

The EIA, which is the independent statistical and analytical wing of Energy Department, said the current situation is even worse than the August monthly data show.

"Given the further disruption in supply from Libya in recent days, total unplanned disruptions toward the end of August are significantly above their monthly average level," the EIA said.

The sizeable outages come at time when OPEC spare oil production capacity is relatively low, at 2.2 million barrels a day, the EIA said.

"Unexpected supply disruptions from various oil-producing countries, occurring at a time of low surplus production capacity amid unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, are reflected in a tighter world oil market," the EIA said, noting this has lifted oil prices. Spare capacity averaged three million barrels a day in 2010-2012, the EIA said.

U.S. benchmark crude oil futures climbed Wednesday to their highest level since May 2011, of $110.10 a barrel, while Brent crude hit a six-month high of $116.61 a barrel. Prices of both grades of crude fell by around 1% on Thursday.

OPEC crude oil output in August averaged 29.9 million barrels a day, down 300,000 barrels a day from July, the EIA said. In what appears to be a rounding issue in the report, the EIA shows only Libya 's output declining month to month, by 400,000 barrels a day, to 600,000 barrels a day.

OPEC's average output in July and August was 31.1 million barrels a day, the EIA said, down one million barrels a day from the same period in 2012. The year-on-year comparison for the two-month period shows, shows Libya 's output down from 600,000 barrels a day, while Nigeria , Saudi Arabia , Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates show declines of 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day. Iraq 's output in the two months was 100,000 barrels a day higher than the year-earlier level for the same period, at 3.2 million barrels a day, the EIA said.

The estimates are contained in the latest version of a report which the EIA is required to file to Congress every two months on the oil market in response to stricter sanctions on Iran .

The EIA said Iran 's output averaged 2.8 million barrels a day in July and August, unchanged from same period in 2012, but below the 2010-2012 average of 3.5 million barrels a day.

Global demand for liquid fuels, including crude oil, lease condensate, biofuels and other liquids, averaged 90.5 million barrels a day in August, down 100,000 barrels a day from July. Consumption of these fuels averaged 90.8 million barrels a day, also down 100,000 barrels a day from July.

The EIA said the 300,000-barrel-a-day gap between supply and demand is made up from drawdowns from inventories and is in line with year-earlier levels.

The EIA said global liquid fuel supply in July and August was 1.2 million barrels a day above the same period in 2012, but was 100,000 barrels a day below the May-June average. Non-OPEC producers boosted liquid fuels supplies by 2.2 million barrels a day from the same time a year earlier, led by rising U.S. oil output, while OPEC's liquid fuel supply fell by about one million barrels a day year-on-year in the period.

The EIA said its estimate of effective spare capacity "does not include additional capacity that may be technically available in Iran , but which is off line due to the impacts of U.S. and European Union sanctions on Iran 's ability to sell its oil."

The estimates of unplanned outages "exclude normal maintenance and reflect the level of volumes shut in relative to an assessment of effective production capacity," the EIA said.

Unplanned outages among non-OPEC producers "were somewhat lower" in July and August, compared with May and June, the EIA said, averaging 700,000 barrels a day. A reduced level of disruptions in China , Brazil and Colombia "more than offset higher outages in the North Sea ," the EIA said.

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