OPEC Output Hits Five-Year Low

EghtesadOnline: OPEC oil output sank to a new five-year low in June as a rise in Saudi supply did not offset losses in Iran and Venezuela due to US sanctions and other outages elsewhere in the group, a Reuters survey found.

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07 July 2019

The 14-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 29.60 million barrels per day last month, the survey showed, down 170,000 bpd from May’s revised figure and the lowest OPEC total since 2014, the survey showed.

The Reuters survey suggests that even though Saudi Arabia is raising output following pressure from US President Donald Trump to bring down prices, the kingdom is still voluntarily pumping less than an OPEC-led supply deal allows it to. OPEC renewed the supply pact at meetings this week.

Despite lower supplies, crude oil has fallen from a six-month high above $75 a barrel in April to below $63 on Friday, pressured by concerns about slowing economic growth, according to Financial Tribune.

“The decision of OPEC+ at the beginning of the week to extend its production cuts has done nothing to change this,” Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank, said of this week’s drop in prices.

“A series of disappointing economic data from the United States, China and Europe has sparked new concerns about demand.”

OPEC, Russia and other non-members, known as OPEC+, agreed in December to reduce supply by 1.2 million bpd from January 1 this year. OPEC’s share of the cut is 800,000 bpd, to be delivered by 11 members, except Iran, Libya and Venezuela.

The producers at meetings this week in Vienna, Austria, extended the deal until March 2020. Among countries pumping more, Saudi Arabia boosted supply by 100,000 bpd to 9.8 million bpd from May’s revised figure. This is still below its OPEC quota of 10.311 million bpd.