Iran Oil Price, Output Drop in November

Iran's crude oil production slackened in November as doubts over an OPEC accord to cut supplies ahead of the group's meeting in Vienna last month also weighed on the country's oil export price, OPEC said in its monthly report.

Iran Heavy, one of the country's main export grades, averaged $42.42 per barrel in November, posting a hefty 10.3% decline from October. Crude oil futures of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria also lost more than 10% from the month before, the report said.

OPEC's basket price of 14 crudes settled down at $43.22 per barrel from the October average of $47.87 a barrel.

Iran, the No. 3 producer at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped 3.703 million barrels per day, or some 5,000 barrels less than its October production level, the report said, citing data provided by secondary sources. Official data on Iran's crude output were not available in the report.

The sources also said that Saudi Arabia, the group's top producer and de facto leader, reduced supplies by 47,200 bpd as output by second-place Iraq rose slightly by 1,700 bpd.

OPEC uses two sets of figures to monitor its output - figures provided by each country, and secondary sources which include industry media. This is a legacy of old disputes over how much countries were really pumping.

The group's collective output reached 33.87 million barrels per day, 151,000 barrels higher than the previous month, the report said citing secondary sources. Oil output increased the most by Angola, Nigeria and Libya, while production in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia showed the largest decline.

OPEC now faces the task of slashing supplies by 1.3 million bpd following a historic agreement in a meeting of its ministers on Nov. 30 to cut supplies to a ceiling of 32.5 million bpd. Non-OPEC members, including Russia, have pledged to reduce output by a total of 558,000 barrels per day.

The share of OPEC crude oil in total global production stood at 35% in November, unchanged from the month before, the report said, adding that global oil supply increased by 530,000 bpd last month to average 96.84 million bpd, according to preliminary data.

Oil demand also declined in Kuwait and Iraq but grew solidly in Iran and the UAE on the back of higher demand for transportation fuels, notably gasoline, OPEC said.

The report is in line with Iran's push to cut crude imports to zero as the country plans to launch several refinery projects to become self-sufficient in gasoline production next year.