OPEC Boosts Oil Output

By: EW News Desk Team   Date: 8 March 2011

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08 March 2011

OPEC members including Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Nigeria have plans to boost output before April by as much as a combined 300,000 barrels a day to cool soaring prices and allay fears of a supply crunch in the west.

Industry officials said the production increase, expected by early April, would – together with an earlier rise by Saudi Arabia – almost make up the shortfall in supply from falling Libyan crude exports.

Kuwait's Oil Minister announced today OPEC is in consultations regarding a potential boost in oil output. "We are in consultations about a potential output increase," Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah told reporters.

Saudi Arabia is already boosting production in response to the supply shortfalls from Libya.

Following Kuwait’s announcement Brent oil futures fell 1.2 percent to US$113.70 a barrel as of 629 GMT.

On a separate note, Qatar's oil minister Mohammed Saleh Al-Sada said "oil inventories and production are at an acceptable level globally." He said OPEC and non-OPEC countries would step in to make up for any production lost in Libya "in a timely manner," but declined to comment on any specific plans, according to Reuters.

The Financial Times reported:

“Opec is evaluating whether [it] needs to meet or not,” Qatar’s oil minister, Mohammed Saleh al-Sada, told reporters in Doha. The cartel has been debating in recent days whether to call an emergency meeting but has so far decided against it.

Kuwait, the UAE and Nigeria were to ramp up their production by as much as 300,000 barrels a day in coming weeks.

Riyadh has raised its output by about 700,000 b/d. The surge in output is the result of both a policy decision that reduces the need for an emergency Opec meeting and oilfields coming back into production after maintenance.

The International Energy Agency estimates Libya’s oil production has fallen by about 1m b/d, down two-thirds from a prevailing output level of 1.58m b/d before the start of the crisis three weeks ago.

Saudi Arabia has responded quickly by pumping more oil and some members are now quietly following, others including Iran and Algeria oppose an increase and see no shortage of oil in the market.

Other officials said Kuwait and the UAE were boosting output jointly by about 100,000-150,000 b/d in the next few weeks. Nigeria is set to add another 150,000-200,000 b/d in April with the return from maintenance of the Qua Iboe and Bonga oil fields, which produce high quality oil.


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