Baku, Azerbaijan, April 24
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Consumers and producers should take steps to avoid higher oil prices that will prove painful to all alike, Trend reports citing the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“Further tightening of sanctions on Iran will have an impact on its export capacity. Iranian shipments of crude and condensates are running around 1.1 million barrels a day (mb/d) in April, 300 000 barrels a day lower than March, and 1.7 mb/d lower than May 2018,” IEA said in its statement on global oil markets.
The statement says that as a result of OPEC’s high compliance rate with the agreed supply cuts in the OPEC+ group, global spare production capacity has risen to 3.3 mb/d, with 2.2 mb/d held by Saudi Arabia and around 1 mb/d by the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait.
“Saudi Arabia’s output in March dropped to 9.8 mb/d after it cut far more than required under the OPEC+ supply cuts. That is more than 1 mb/d below the record high of 11.1 mb/d that Saudi Arabia pumped last November,” said IEA.
Total oil supplies from the United States are expected to grow by 1.6 mb/d this year, reads the statement. “Furthermore, as infrastructure bottlenecks in the United States are easing, oil exports are now more able to keep pace with production trends.”
“OECD oil inventories at the end of February 2019 were at 2,871 million barrels, which is above the five-year average. The IEA notes that with global economic growth increasingly fragile, consumers and producers should take steps to avoid higher oil prices that will prove painful to all alike.”
The US State Department has said that the country won’t issue additional reduction exceptions to existing importers of Iranian oil.
“United States will not issue any additional Significant Reduction Exceptions to existing importers of Iranian oil. The Trump Administration has taken Iran’s oil exports to historic lows, and we are dramatically accelerating our pressure campaign in a calibrated way that meets our national security objectives while maintaining well supplied global oil markets. We stand by our allies and partners as they transition away from Iranian crude to other alternatives. We have had extensive and productive discussions with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other major producers to ease this transition and ensure sufficient supply. This, in addition to increasing U.S. production, underscores our confidence that energy markets will remain well supplied,” reads the message.
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