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Tag: OPEC

  • OPEC to cut production by 500,000 barrels

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) may cut oil production by half a million barrels a day when its meets in December, the International Energy Agency(EIA) has said.

    The body said if all go accoridng to plans, the reduction in production would be the first in five years since the last time such exercise was carried out was 2008.

    It said: “ The last time OPEC cut its oil output was in late 2008 when it reduced production to 4.2 million barrels a day. During this time, oil demand fell and prices crashed amid the financial crisis.

    Lately, Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, have supported keeping the production ceiling at 30 million barrels a day, The organisation could reduce production by half a million barrels a day due to the surge in the North American shale boom,”

    OPEC’s latest report, released last week, projected that demand for its crude will slide 500,000 barrels a day next year to 29.4 million barrels of oilper day (MMbpd), or about 2.6 per cent less than the organisation is currently producing,’

    It added that OPEC is ‘concerned’ about US/Canadian production increases and its implications on the global oil market.

    The International Energy Agency also stated that demand for OPEC oil in 2014 will fail to meet its current production of around 30 million barrels per day, in its released report last week.

    It said OPEC will try to maintain production levels in order keep prices from falling below $100 a barrel.

    According to the body, the development coincides with a surge in oil supply from countries outside the OPEC group.

  • OPEC to trim exports by 190,000 bpd

    OPEC to trim exports by 190,000 bpd

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will reduce crude shipments this month while refiners in the United States and Europe conduct seasonal maintenance, tanker-tracker, has Oil Movements said.

    The group, which supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s oil, will cut exports by 190,000 barrels a day(bpd), or 0.8 per cent, to about 23.7 million barrels a day in the four weeks leading to August 31, the researcher said yesterday in an e-mailed report.

    The figures exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador.

    Refiners trim imports at the start of the third quarter while performing maintenance as summer demand for gasoline and diesel ebb. Brent crude climbed to a four-month high of $111.53 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London as clashes in Egypt and labour strikes in Libya raised concern that exports from the region will remain unstable.

    Middle Eastern shipments will drop by 1.1 per cent to about 17.3 million barrels a day to August 31, compared with about 17.5 million in the month to August 3, Oil Movements added. That figure includes non-OPEC nations Oman and Yemen.

    Crude on board tankers will decline 4.3 per cent to 481.7 million barrels, data from Oil Movements indicated.

    The researcher calculates volumes by tallying tanker bookings, and excludes crude held on vessels for storage.

  • ‘OPEC to reduce exports by 740,000bpd’

    ‘OPEC to reduce exports by 740,000bpd’

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut shipments by the most since December as refiners in the U.S. and Europe conduct seasonal maintenance, tanker-tracker, Oil Movements, said.

    The group, which supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s oil, will cut exports by 740,000 barrels a day, or three per cent, to about 23.7 million barrels a day in the four weeks to August 24 from the period to July 27, the Researcher said yesterday in an e-mailed report. The figures exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador.

    “There is a fall under way and it’s a serious one,” Roy Mason, the company’s founder said yesterday by phone from Halifax, England.

    He continued: “In the crude market, the summer is over. What’s going down very visibly is westbound sailings from the Gulf.”

    Refiners typically trim imports at the start of the third quarter while performing maintenance, as summer demand for gasoline and diesel ebb. Brent crude declined for a fifth day on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London, trading 0.9 per cent lower at $106.46 a barrel.

    Middle Eastern shipments will drop by four per cent to about 17.4 million barrels a day to August 24, compared with about 18.1 million in the month to July 27, according to Oil Movements. That figure includes non-OPEC nations, Oman and Yemen.

    Crude on board tankers will decline 3.6 per cent to 483.9 million barrels, data from Oil Movements showed. The Researcher calculates volumes by tallying tanker bookings, and excludes crude held on vessels for storage.

    OPEC’s members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. It will next meet in Vienna on December 4.

    Meanwhile, offers for the Nigerian benchmark grade slid lower yesterday as a dearth of buying interest created a supply overhang for September, despite supply problems for rival Libyan grades.

    Traders said less than 10 Nigerian cargoes remain unsold for the September programme, with three of them reported to be Qua Iboe cargoes.

    “It may ease a bit more as some barrels are still available. It seems the buyers are in hiding,” said a West African oil trader. Still, traders said ongoing supply disruptions in Libya would likely limit losses.

    Libyan production is set to drop further as workers at the country’s Arabian Gulf Oil Company plan to reduce output progressively in protest over management changes and the company’s structure.

    Other Nigerian grades were selling more swiftly and two cargoes were placed as part of an Indian buy tender for October loading. Traders said there was still a handful of Angolan cargoes available for September.

  • Nigeria’s oil revenue threatened by OPEC’s planned cut

    WITH the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) planning to cut down production by 300,000 barrels next year, Nigeria’s oil output and revenue are bound to suffer, according to experts.

    In its latest report, OPEC said production would fall to 29.6million barrels per day bpd, 300,000 barrels and 2.6 per cent lesser than its current production of 30 million bpd.

    It said OPEC’s decision was informed by the need to maintain production levels that keep price from falling below $100 a barrel.

    President, Nigerian Association of Energy Economics, Prof Adeola

    Adenikinju, said OPEC’s proposed cut would affect member-countries. He said any attempt to keep oil production or price below or above certain thresholds would affect OPEC members.

    He said Nigeria’s case is peculiar because its oil production and revenue have been declining.

    ‘The issue is going to have marginal effects on Nigeria’s oil output. This is because the country is not new to declining oil production. Besides, the fact that Nigeria is not meeting OPEC quota of 2.5million barrels or thereabout, oil production has been hindered by issues, such as oil theft and pipeline vandalism, divestments of stakes by oil majors, among others. Based on these, the sliding oil production will have minimal effects on Nigeria,” he said.

    “The impacts would be much on revenue. The budget is predicated on oil production. Once there is a problem with oil production, it would affect fiscal flow of the government. It is obvious that Nigeria cannot meet the current or future quota because it has too many internal problems to contend with. This means the country will further experience shortfall in oil revenue.”

    He noted that the government benchmarked the budgets at 2.5million barrels a day and $90 barrel but the country is producing less than 2million barrels a day.

    ‘The government is already having problem with the budget. The oil projection of 2.5million

    barrels has not been met, which means that that the government is battling fiscal challenges. The government thought it would be able to boost the Excess Crude Account to mitigate the effects of any shortfall in oil revenues, but that has not happened. Giving the probelms in the Niger Delta oil producing region, the country would still not be able to increase its oil production and revenue next year.

    Also, the Chief Executive officer, Economic Associates, Dr Ayodele Teriba said any major development in the international oil market would have ripple effects on the economy of OPEC’s member countries.

    He said the government’s inability to meet some of its fiscal needs was as a result of some failed projections. He advised the government to put in place measures that would  mitigate

    the any external shocks.

    Meanwhile, crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas liquids, fell by 1.5 per cent from 1.97million barrel per day in April to 1.94 mbd in May, this year.

    According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN)’s Economic report, deliveries to the refineries for domestic consumption remained at 0.45million barrels a day or 13.9 millions in the period under review. CBN attributed the decrease in production to recurring oil spills, crude oil theft and force majure on oil activities in Niger Delta.

  • Reduction in Nigeria’s oil, others limit availability

    Reduction in Nigeria’s oil, others limit availability

    Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) said price risks for Brent crude in the second half of the year have changed “to the upside” amid production losses in some Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations and political threats to supply.

    Reductions in output from Libya, Iraq and Nigeria have the potential to limit availability, the bank said yesterday in an e-mailed report. Even so, increased production outside the OPEC will probably keep global markets adequately supplied this year, said Goldman, which forecasts Brent crude to average $105 a barrel in the second half. Brent futures traded at about $108 a barrel in London yesterday.

    “The risks have shifted more to the upside over the short term due to the possibility of continuing OPEC production shortfalls and increased geopolitical risks,” Jeff Currie, the head of commodities research in New York, said in the report.

    OPEC output fell by 370,000 barrels a day in June amid unrest and violence in Libya, Iraq and Nigeria, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its most recent monthly market report on July 11.

    The losses come just as increasing seasonal demand for motor fuels is pushing up global oil consumption, Goldman said. OPEC supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s crude.

  • U.S. shale boom ‘ll affect demand for crude, says OPEC

    U.S. shale boom ‘ll affect demand for crude, says OPEC

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, forecast the world will need less of its crude next year, even as global oil demand growth rebounds to its strongest pace since 2010, amid competing supply sources.

    Chief Oil Market analyst at Energy Aspects Limited, Amrita Sen, said while speaking about the impact of geopolitical unrest in the Middle East and U.S. production on global oil supply and pricing. She speaks with Alix Steel, Tom Keene and Peter Cook on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance.” (Source: Bloomberg)

    She said demand for OPEC’s crude will slip by 300,000 barrels a day next year to 29.6 million a day next year, or about 2.6 percent less than the 12-member group is pumping now, OPEC said in its first set of forecasts for 2014. The need for OPEC’s crude will diminish even as global oil demand growth recovers to one million barrels a day in 2014, from 800,000 a day this year, amid rising output in the U.S. and Canada.

    “The million-dollar question is what is going on with non-OPEC supply, and when we speak about non-OPEC, we are speaking definitely about the U.S. market,” said Eugen Weinberg, Head of Commodities Research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “Otherwise, it’s a balanced outlook for the next year, and growth is likely to increase, though maybe OPEC are a little too optimistic on China,” he said.

  • OPEC to cut exports, says agency

    OPEC to cut exports, says agency

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will trim crude shipments through to the middle of April, while refiners perform seasonal maintenance work, according to tanker-tracker Oil Movements.

    The group that supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s oil will reduce crude exports by 370,000 barrels a day, or 1.5 per cent, to 23.69 million a day in the four weeks to April 13, the researcher said in an e-mailed report. The figures exclude Angola and Ecuador.

    “April is definitely the low point of the second quarter,” Roy Mason, the company’s founder, said by phone from Halifax, England. “The refinery maintenance season peaks in April and drags on into May. The recovery in refining capacity and the increase in crude demand it generates doesn’t really show up in loadings until early May.”

    Global refinery output in the second quarter was forecast at 74.8 million barrels a day, by the International Energy Agency in its month report. “Asian maintenance will constrain crude runs through mid-May. Only in June are runs forecast to rebound in a big way,” the IEA said.

  • IEA, IEF, OPEC hold talks on energy markets

    The International Energy Agency (IEA), International Energy Forum (IEF) and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held the third joint workshop on “Interactions between physical and financial energy markets” in Vienna, Austria.

    The high-level technical event, according to a statement by OPEC, brought together variuous experts from industry, governments, and the financial and regulatory sectors of the developed and emerging economies to discuss the interactions between physical and financial energy markets.

    The statement noted that the workshop built on insights gained from the previous two meetings held in London in 2010 and Vienna the following year, and discussions were held under the Chatham House Rule.

    The workshop is part of a wider joint programme of work agreed by the three organisations and endorsed by Energy Ministers at the 12th International Energy Forum (Cancun, Mexico, March 2010) as part of the Cancun Declaration.

    The discussions considered the following issues: the evolving interactions between energy derivatives and the broader financial markets over the last 10 years; an update on the implementation of regulation in the energy derivatives markets; expected future developments in energy derivatives trading; and a focus on Asia.

    The IEA, IEF and OPEC will produce a summary report of the workshop for their member countries, which will also be made available on their respective websites, the statement added.

  • OPEC to focus on market stability

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said it would focus on ensuring oil market stability this year in view of the uncertainty of the global economy, which has been lingering in the past few years.

    The organisation in its latest bulletin said that when OPEC’s oil/energy ministers gathered in Vienna for the 162nd meeting last month; they were faced with the challenge of addressing an uncertain outlook for the international oil market in 2013.

    The challenge according to the bulletin, was tied to the stuttering performance of the world economy, which the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) released last month, described as experiencing “another year of deceleration” in 2012.

    Although the market report noted that some indicators pointed to a tentative recovery in the second half of last year, a momentum that it said would likely be carried over into 2013. However, it cautioned that “many uncertainties remain.”

    On the uncertainties, the report said that the most important would be avoiding the fiscal cliff in the United States, further decisions on austerity issues in the Euro-zone, and balancing the need to reduce the fiscal debt burden while stimulating growth in Japan. “In the emerging economies, it remains to be seen how domestic demand will be improved, given the likely continuation of low growth in their main exporting markets in the developed world,” it added.

    Such doubts about the global economy, the MOMR added, were “causing a great deal of uncertainty for the forecast for world oil demand, which has a downward risk, especially in the first half of the year.”

    On supply, the report noted that the growth in non-OPEC supply, together with OPEC natural gas liquids and nonconventional oils, was expected to outpace the increase in world oil demand growth in 2013. Indeed, this was already happening, with some notable downward pressure on oil prices since mid-September.

    The conference was emphatic that the biggest challenge facing global oil markets in 2013 was uncertainty surrounding the global economy, noting that projected demand for OPEC crude in 2013 was expected to contract to 29.7 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) even though the organisation would still maintain the production level of 30 million bopd.

    Besides, the organisation informed member countries to if necessary, take steps to ensure market balance and reasonable price levels for producers and consumers. This would mean responding swiftly to developments that might have a detrimental impact on an orderly oil market.

    However, OPEC had in its October market report, noted that the current dampened trend for world oil demand is not expected to change this year, with the market continuing to be characterized by high volumes of crude supply and increasing production capacity. It said that given the uncertainty facing the global economy and the ongoing downside risks, world oil demand growth for 2012 had been frequently revised down, while non-OPEC supply and output of OPEC natural gas liquids (NGLs) had continued to perform well, outpacing demand growth.

    The market report also noted that the global economy had experienced a continuous deceleration since the beginning of 2012, which was the combination of an austerity-driven Eurozone, the weakening recovery in Japan and clear signs of a slow-down in the major emerging economies.

    Furthermore, the report noted that despite the prevailing weakness in the world economy, the slowing momentum was expected to bottom out in 2012. As a result, global growth was projected to be slightly higher in 2013 at 3.2 per cent, compared with an earlier 3.1 per cent.

    The market report warned that two major structural weaknesses represented continued risks to the forecasts and include firstly, that most of the incremental growth was set to come from developing and emerging economies, which to varying degrees were reliant on exports to the developed economies. “Secondly, and even more of a concern, the growth forecast is dependent on the effectiveness of the global oil demand trend unlikely to change in 2013,” the report added.

     

  • OPEC to cut crude exports by 1%

    OPEC to cut crude exports by 1%

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut crude shipments this month by one per cent as demand tapers off after peaking for the northern hemisphere winter, according to tanker tracker Oil Movements.

    The group that supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s oil will export 24.02 million barrels a day in the four weeks to January 19, down 2501,000 barrels from the previous period, the researcher said yesterday in an e-mailed report. The figures exclude Angola and Ecuador.

    “The mid-winter trough is the end of the season for long- haul crude coming into the Atlantic basin,” Roy Mason, the company’s founder Mason said by phone from Halifax, England.

    The reduction may also signal that Saudi Arabia is trimming production to balance global supply and demand, he said.

    Brent crude traded at about $112 a barrel in London today, having gained 3.5 percent last year in its weakest performance since 2008. OPEC is pumping about 1.4 million barrels a day more than its official target of 30 million, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

    Middle East shipments will slide 1.3 percent to 17.68 million barrels a day in the period, compared with 17.91 million in the four weeks to Dec. 22, according to the report. That figure includes non-OPEC members Oman and Yemen.

    “There is less west-bound oil,” Mason said. “If you’re going to control the market, the west is the major lever. So the Saudis may already be moving to control the market.”