African Members’ Production Troubles Offset OPEC’s Planned Increase

EghtesadOnline: OPEC boosted crude production as planned last month, but the increase was tempered by disruptions at long-troubled member nations.

News ID: ۷۸۵۹۱۶

04 February 2021

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries raised output by 190,000 barrels a day in January, Bloomberg reported. That fits with an agreement between the group and its allies to revive some of the supplies halted during the pandemic.

Yet the monthly change is barely two-thirds of the scheduled amount, as increases by OPEC’s Persian Gulf exporters were offset by disruptions in Nigeria and Libya.

Output from OPEC’s 13 members averaged 25.67 million barrels a day in January, according to the survey. It’s based on ship-tracking data, information from officials, and estimates from consultants including Rystad Energy AS, JBC Energy GmbH, Energy Aspects Ltd. and Petro-Logistics SA.

OPEC and its partners agreed to collectively restore 500,000 barrels a day in January amid signs that global fuel demand was tentatively recovering from the coronavirus shock. OPEC’s share of the increase amounted to just over 300,000 barrels.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria revived output in accordance with the agreement, the survey showed.

In Libya, a member exempted from the pact because of previous chronic outages, production fell by 60,000 barrels a day to 1.16 million after a leak forced the closing of a critical pipeline for more than a week. The halt at the link operated by Waha Oil Co. illustrated the toll that inadequate investment and neglect are taking on infrastructure in the conflict-torn nation.