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OPEC Output at 31.2m bpd in Sept.

OPEC Output at 31.2m bpd in Sept.
OPEC Output at 31.2m bpd in Sept.

Oil production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries totaled 31.2 million barrels per day in September, down 60,000 bpd from August as Saudi Arabia further reined in supply, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts.

"Given the Saudi oil minister's comments last week and OPEC's expectations of more balanced oil market fundamentals in the second half of next year, all the signals seem to point to yet another rollover of the current output ceiling in December," said Margaret McQuaile, senior correspondent for Platts, a leading global provider of energy and commodities information, BI-MI reported.

OPEC ministers are next scheduled to meet in Vienna on December 4.

Saudi Arabia was the only member country to reduce supply last month. Small increases totaling 80,000 bpd came from Iran, Libya, Nigeria, the UAE and Angola.

Saudi supply fell back to 10.26 million bpd in September from 10.4 million bpd in August, the survey estimated.

But participants in the survey see the kingdom's September dip as a response to market conditions rather than as indicative of a downward trend in output that might signal a policy change.

The world's top crude exporter has been pumping in excess of 10 million bpd since March and told OPEC it produced a record 10.56 million bpd at the wellhead in June.

The 10,000 bpd increase in Iranian output comes as Tehran prepares for the lifting of sanctions that will enable it to increase crude exports from current levels of around 1 million bpd.

Libyan production also rose by 10,000 bpd month-on-month, although volumes are still very low relative to the 1.58 million bpd the country was producing before the 2011 uprising.

 

Financialtribune.com