Baku, Azerbaijan, June 11
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's Heavy crude oil price stood at $61.38/b in May, indicating a rise by $5.12 or 9.1 percent compared to the preceding month, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its latest monthly report released June 10.
The OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) moved up again in May to a new high this year of above $60/b. A pickup in crude oil demand, healthy refined product markets and US crude inventory drawdowns were key elements supporting the market. Ongoing geopolitical turmoil and a weaker US dollar also helped fuel oil futures for underlying physical benchmarks.
The ORB increased $4.86 or 8.5 percent to $62.16/b on a monthly basis. Meanwhile, compared with a year ago, the ORB value continued to lag at $54.06/b versus its $104.79/b year-to-date value in 2014.
Iran's crude oil output (excluding condensates) remained unchanged in May compared to April and stood at 2.845 million barrels per day (mbpd).
The country ranked third among the OPEC countries after Saudi Arabia and Iraq based on secondary sources.
Iran stood at third place, in an OPEC report on oil production in 2012 after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. However, in 2013 it fell to the fifth spot.
The Islamic Republic's oil production is 3.1 mbpd for May according to an OPEC report based on direct communication, indicating a 245,000 barrel difference between OPEC's estimates and Iran 's data.
The report also says that OPEC members' total crude oil output has increased by about 23,800 bpd in May compared to April, reaching 30.975 mbpd.
The biggest decline in the crude production level belongs to Kuwait with 77,400 bpd fall in a month, followed by Libya (46.700 bpd) and Nigeria (34,300 bpd) while Iraq has increased its crude output by 104,800 to 3.8 mbpd in May.
OPEC's major oil producer, Saudi Arabia crude oil output stood at 10.1 mbpd in the period.
World oil demand for 2014 experienced growth by some 0.96 mbpd and reached 91.32 mbpd.
In 2015, world oil demand is forecast to increase by 1.18 mbpd and hit 92.5 mbpd.
The demand for OPEC crude stood at 29 mb/d in 2014, which is 1.4 mb/d lower than the previous year's level.
In 2015, required OPEC crude is projected at 29.3 mbpd, representing an increase of 0.3 mbpd from estimated 2014 level.
Edited by CN
Umid Niayesh is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh