OPEC crude oil production dropped just over 200,000 barrels per day in March. They are now just over one million barrels per day below their fourth-quarter 2016 average.
Data showed that only the UAE showed any significant gain among OPEC members while Algeria took a hit in March, down almost 50,000 barrels per day (bpd). They reached a new low of under 1,000,000 bpd.
Angola took the biggest hit of all OPEC nations in March. They dropped 82,000bpd to reach their lowest level in almost 7 years.
While Ecuador has slowed their decline during the last two months, the date shows Equatorial Guinea is holding on and Gabon reached a new low in March.
With Iraq fully recovered from sanctions the country is now producing flat out, Iran is also producing flat out and their production is holding steady, as Kuwaiti product has held remarkably steady for the last 15 months according to the data.
Libya is holding steady at just under 1,000,000 bpd. They could likely produce another 200,000 to 400,000 bpd if peace ever broke out in that country. But that is unlikely, in the near future anyway, analysis showed.
According to the analysis. Nigeria is a big question mark as analysts wonder about how much political strife is hurting production in the country. It is however, not expected that Nigeria could greatly increase production soon “even if all the rebels laid down their arms, something that is very unlikely to happen any time soon,” analysts indicate.
The data further showed that Qatar, after declining for almost a decade has held steady for one year now. While OPEC giant, Saudi Arabia, has held output steady for 15 months and capable of producing more half a million bpd.
On the other hand, in the last six months, Venezuelan production has dropped 414,000 bpd, almost 70,000 barrels per month.
OPEC says world oil supply increased by 180,000 bpd in March. Since they dropped 201,000 barrels per day, that would mean Non-OPEC would have to have had an increase of 381,000 barrels per day in March.
Meanwhile, World oil production, so far, peaked in November 2016 with the 12-month average peaking in September 2017, according to data from the EIA.
Non-OPEC peaked, so far, in December of 2014 with the 12-month average peaking in November of 2015
Additional reporting by Yahoo Finance and OilPrice.com
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