OPEC president says crude output quotas no longer relevant
Kuwait City (Platts)--9May2005
OPEC's ten members with quotas are currently producing 29.7-mil b/d of crude, more than 2-mil b/d above their 27.5-mil b/d ceiling, and will continue to pump at this level through June, OPEC's Kuwaiti president Sheikh Ahmed Fahed al-Sabah said Monday. Output from Saudi Arabia, the group's biggest producer, is running at "almost 10-mil b/d," Sheikh Ahmed said, more than 1-mil b/d above the kingdom's 8.937-mil b/d quota. Quotas, he said, had become irrelevant. Asked how much he thought Saudi Arabia was currrently producing, the OPEC president said: "Almost 10-mil b/d, I think. You can ask the Saudis." A Platts survey estimated Saudi output at 9.4-mil b/d in March and preliminary soundings indicate that production in April may not have been much above the 9.4-9.5-mil b/d level. Sheikh Ahmed's estimate of OPEC-10 output at 29.7-mil b/d has not been openly challenged by any other minister. But given that various independent estimates pegged March OPEC-10 March volumes around 28-mil b/d, it is unclear how output could have been ramped up by some 1.7-mil b/d. Read more about OPEC in Platts OPEC Guide http://www.platts.com/Oil/Resources/News%20Features/opec/index.xml
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