After several months of cutbacks, Saudi Arabia reversed course in April and boosted its production. That led to an overall rise in the group’s output. You can see the full Platts analysis here.
Posts Tagged ‘OPEC’
New Frontiers: OPEC, N. African oil producers seek out shale
By News Desk | April 29, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (0)
The shale boom has led to two developments: lots of hydrocarbon production in the US, and speculation about what countries will lead similar developments and at what pace. In this week’s Oilgram News column New Frontiers, Tamsin Carlisle reviews the plans of countries both in North Africa and the Middle East.
OPEC oil output in March: a few countries struggled to keep up
By News Desk | April 10, 2013 03:47 PM Comments (0)
OPEC’s output has been dropping for months, but mostly because Saudi Arabia has been taking on the role of swing producer and cutting its production in line with weaker demand. In March, it was other countries that saw their production decline, but it wasn’t demand-driven. You can read Platts’ numbers and analysis here.
IEA backtracks on oil demand
By Robert Perkins | February 13, 2013 02:00 PM Comments (0)
What a difference a month makes.
Less than four weeks ago the International Energy Agency warned of a tightening in the global oil market due to higher-than-expected demand data from China and the US.
The West’s energy watchdog hiked its global oil demand estimate for the final quarter of 2012 by a massive 710,000 b/d and flagged a bullish 240,000 b/d upward revision to its 2013 oil demand forecast.
OPEC’s January output: the Saudis cut again
By News Desk | February 7, 2013 04:35 PM Comments (0)
Saudi Arabia, for a second consecutive month, tried to act pretty much by itself and narrow the gap between projected supply and demand. As a result, overall OPEC production declined. A report on what happened last month can be found here.
The IEA’s tighter oil market may be brief
By Robert Perkins | January 18, 2013 03:36 PM Comments (1)
So China again surprised to the demand upside in the IEA’s latest monthly oil market estimate. As a result, it provided, yet again, the impetus for an apparent tightening of the oil markets fundamentals at least in the short-term.
The West’s energy watchdog hiked its global oil demand estimate for the final quarter of 2012 by a massive 710,000 b/d and pushed up its forecast of demand this year by 240,000 b/d to 90.8 million b/d. This comes amid a sharp pullback in Saudi oil production of 600,000 b/d since October (half of which came in December alone) from 30-year highs, underpinning the IEA’s more bullish view.
So with 400,000 b/d more demand for OPEC’s oil in the fourth quarter than previously thought, the call on OPEC’s oil was around 30.8 million b/d in the three months to December, when the cartel was pumping 30.6 million b/d.
That’s a legitimate oil market pinch for sure, but not necessarily a tightening for very long.
Lofty oil prices make life easy for OPEC but tough challenges lie ahead
By Margaret McQuaile | January 9, 2013 09:20 AM Comments (0)
OPEC had a relatively easy 2012 with oil prices holding above the $100/barrel mark despite a still fragile global economy. There were no major public disagreements over output policy between members, unlike in 2011 when the cartel’s June conference ended without an agreement on production levels and with Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi describing the meeting as the worst ever.
But the next couple of years could present some challenges to OPEC. One particular challenge will be the steep fall in US demand for imported oil, as highlighted on January 8 in the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook from the US Energy Information Administration, which is the statistics arm of the Department of Energy.
IEA’s signals mixed, but it sees a definite rise in demand
By Robert Perkins | December 13, 2012 01:52 PM Comments (0)
The International Energy Agency provided a characteristically mixed bag of monthly oil market indicators this week, with key themes of an outlook for higher oil demand running parallel to apparent market oversupply.
The report’s headline forecasts of higher than expected oil demand in Q4 and next year were tempered with comments of continued “sluggish” global economic growth.
Next year’s oil demand expectations were raised by 110,000 b/d to 90.5 million b/d. Meanwhile, Q4 demand was hiked by 435,000 b/d more than forecast last month. By way of contrast, the IEA had previously slashed its Q4 oil demand estimate by combined 800,000 b/d since June.
Same secretary general, same oil output ceiling for OPEC
By Margaret McQuaile | December 12, 2012 10:50 AM Comments (0)
It came as no surprise earlier Wednesday that OPEC ministers had failed to agree on a new secretary general and had asked Abdalla el-Badri to stay in the post for another year.
Despite its claim to be an economic organization, OPEC is riven by politics and political in-fighting has overshadowed the post every time it has come up for grabs.
OPEC output in November down, but not by much
By News Desk | December 11, 2012 10:05 AM Comments (0)