April production from OPEC countries nearly 31 MMBOPD
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries continued to increase production in April, going nearly 1 MMBOPD over its 30 MMBOPD production ceiling. Total OPEC production reached 30.93 MMBOPD in the month of April, according to estimates from Platts, 210 MBOPD more than in March, and the highest since November 2012.
The single largest increase in the month of April came from Saudi Arabia, which added an additional 100 MBOPD to its production. The additional production brought Saudi’s total production to 10.1 MMBOPD, making up nearly a third of the cartel’s total production.
Smaller additions were made by Iraq (70 MBOPD), Libya (40 MBOPD), Nigeria (40 MBOPD), Kuwait (10 MBOPD) and Iran (10 MBOPD). Algeria, Ecuador, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela all maintained their production levels from March. Angola saw a 70 MBOPD decline in production to 1.68 MMBOPD, largely due to problems at BP’s (ticker: BP) Plutonio field.
A separate survey from Reuters puts OPEC production in the month of April even higher than the Platts estimates. The Reuters survey estimates OPEC production in April could have been as high as 31.04 MMBOPD, based off shipping data and information from the oil companies.
In a recent interview, OPEC’s Director of Research Dr. Omar Abdul-Hamid talked about the demand equation with Siemens: “We saw on average 91 million barrels of demand every single day in 2014. By 2040 we expect 111 million barrels of demand per day. Demand growth mainly comes from emerging economies and developing countries, particularly in Asia, and from OPEC member states. Their demand more than compensates for shrinking use in highly developed countries. Developed countries are reducing their oil consumption due to increasing fuel efficiency. Demand for oil will be in transportation and petrochemicals.”
OPEC’s next meeting is scheduled for June 5 in Vienna, where the group is headquartered. No change to the group’s current policy of defending market share is expected to come out of the meeting, according to a Gulf OPEC delegate.
“The market is firming up and this will continue. Demand is much, much stronger than anticipated,” the delegate said. “There are clear signs and information about growth in demand and slower supply from the high cost and marginal producers.”
U.S. Production
According to information from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. production for the month of April averaged 9.4 MMBOPD. U.S. production has been steadily increasing since over the past year, despite a rapid decline in the number of active rigs drilling in the U.S.
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