Mubasher TV
Contact Us Advertising   العربية

OPEC crude output falls to 4-yr trough in March

OPEC crude output falls to 4-yr trough in March

Mubasher: Oil supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) slid to their lowest level in four years in March, as Saudi Arabia continued to trim production, while output from economically-embattled Venezuela waned.

OPEC’s production dropped by 534,000 barrels per day (bpd) last March to 30.022 million bpd, compared with February, according to independent sources, cited by the group in its Oil Market Report (OMR).

The declining output came at the time when OPEC members along with allied producers, including Russia, are pushing to withhold 1.2 million bpd off the market through next June in order to prop up prices.

The headline OPEC output was the lowest since February 2015, when the producer club pumped 29.97 million bpd.

Saudi Arabia produced 9.79 million bpd last month, 324,000 bpd down from the prior month, while this came around 1.3 million bpd from its all-time peak 11.1 million bpd reached last November, when OPEC’s de-facto leader’s output surged to offset shortage caused by the US sanctions against Iran.

Helping to tighten global oil supplies was a disruption from Venezuela, already embroiled in a political and economic crisis.

Following blackouts that paralysed oil operations, Venezuela produced 732,000 bpd in March, marking a plunge of 289,000 bpd.

The next biggest drop came from Iraq, which trimmed its supply by 126,000 bpd, totalling 4.52 million bpd.

On the other hand, declines were offset, with Libya stepping up its oil production by 196,000 bpd to 1.098 million bpd.

It is worth noting that Libyan output often fluctuates owing to unrest. Currently, worries about a potential shortage were raised on escalation in fighting.

By 12:52 pm GMT, global benchmark Brent futures went up 0.20% to $70.75 per barrel (pb), while US Nymex crude futures rose 0.50% to 64.30 pb.