Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.16
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Total OPEC crude oil production in the fourth quarter of 2017 is forecast to decline from the third quarter, averaging 32.7 million barrels per day (b/d), the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook.
EIA estimates that OPEC crude oil production averaged 32.9 million b/d in the third quarter of 2017, down from an average of 33.4 million b/d in November 2016 (before the group’s voluntary production reductions).
Libya, which is exempt from any production reductions, increased crude oil output in September, but a shutdown at one of its largest oil fields at the beginning of October presents uncertainty about the country’s longer-term production potential, according to the report.
On May 25, OPEC member countries and non-OPEC parties, Azerbaijan, Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Republic of Sudan, and the Republic of South Sudan agreed to extend the production adjustments for a further period of nine months, with effect from July 1, 2017.
The reductions will be on the same terms as those agreed in November.
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