Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) oil supply has jumped to a two-year high in September this year due to further recovery in Libya and higher output from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers, a survey has revealed
Supply from the OPEC averaged 30.96mn bpd in September, up from 30.15mn bpd in August 2014, according to the Reuter’s data based on shipping data and information from sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.
Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank, said, “Libya has increased production massively and if you look forward, OPEC is producing more than the forecast demand for OPEC crude in 2015.”
“This puts pressure on OPEC ahead of their next meeting,” he added.
OPEC reportedly pumps a third of the world’s oil. Last month, the largest increase came from Libya, where supply was up by 280,000 bpd. Iraq, Nigeria, Angola and Saudi Arabia also boosted output.
The output is OPEC’s highest since November 2012 when it pumped 31.06mn bpd.
Iraq also managed to increase supplies despite crisis in the country. Oil production rebounded due to higher exports from Iraq’s southern terminals and increased output from fields in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
In Africa, Nigerian output climbed in September and another increase has come from Angola where CLOV, a new crude stream operated by Total, is ramping up exports, the agency added.
Saudi Arabia, supported by Kuwait and the UAE, also boosted output informally to cover for outages elsewhere in the group.
OPEC, however, forcasted that demand for its crude will fall to 29.2mn bpd in 2015 due to rising supply of US shale oil and supplies from other producers outside the group — almost 1.8mn bpd below current output.
