OPEC says fulfills oil output reduction deal by 145% in February

MOSCOW, Mar 14 (PRIME) -- OPEC decreased its daily oil production by 77,100 barrels to 32.186 million barrels in February, fulfilling an oil output reduction deal between the organization and non-OPEC countries by 145%, the organization said on Wednesday in its March report quoting data of secondary sources.

Oil output mainly fell in Venezuela, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Iraq, but it was compensated partially by the growth of output in Nigeria and Angola, OPEC said.

OPEC also increased the demand growth forecast for 2018 by 10,000 barrels per day to 1.6 million barrels with a combined estimate rising to 98.63 billion barrels from 98.6 billion barrels. The organization attributed the improvement to positive economic data from the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Demand for oil in 2017 grew by 1.62 million barrels per day to 97.04 million barrels, which is a 20,000 barrel increase as compared with the previous estimate, OPEC said.

Daily oil supply to the world market by non-OPEC states may grow by 1.66 million barrels in 2018, up 260,000 barrels as compared with the previous estimate.

The organization’s preliminary data showed the combined daily supply at the world’s oil market rising 370,000 barrels on the month and 1.66 million barrels on the year to 98.2 million barrels in February.

OPEC also raised its forecast for Russia’s daily production of oil and condensate in 2018 to 11 million barrels from 10.98 million barrels.

OPEC agreed to reduce production by 1.2 million barrels daily to 32.5 million barrels in November 2016. In December 2016, 11 non-OPEC countries including Russia agreed to cut their combined output by 558,000 barrels. In November 2017, the agreement was prolonged until the end of 2018.

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