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OPEC sees lowest level of production since November 2003

Oil&Gas Materials 9 October 2019 12:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.9

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

Crude oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) averaged 28.2 million barrels per day (b/d) in September, Trend reports citing the October Short-term Energy Outlook (STEO) of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Production was down 1.6 million b/d from August, the lowest level of OPEC production since November 2003—as a result of the disruptions in Saudi Arabia—and down 4.0 million b/d from September 2018, according to EIA.

The decrease in OPEC crude oil production during the past year was primarily the result of falling production in Iran and Venezuela as well as the recent disruption in Saudi Arabia, reads the report.

However, EIA estimates that Saudi Arabia’s crude oil production returned to preoutage levels as of October 3. EIA forecasts that annual average OPEC crude oil production will average 29.8 million b/d in 2019, down by 2.1 million from 2018, and 29.6 million b/d in 2020.

EIA said that the attack on Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq crude oil processing facility on September 14 initially disrupted about 5 percent of global liquid fuels supply and caused a significant increase in crude oil prices on the first trading day following the disruption.

“As a result of the crude oil supply disruption, EIA estimates Saudi Arabia’s crude oil production declined to 8.5 million barrels per day (b/d) on average in September, down from 9.9 million b/d in August. Because Saudi Arabia holds the majority of OPEC’s spare crude oil production capacity, EIA estimates the outage reduced September spare capacity numbers by 1 million b/d,” reads the report.

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