09-05-08

The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 31.87 mm bpd of crude oil in April, a 350,000 bpd decrease from March, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials.
The sharp drop was largely the result of steep output losses in Nigeria.

Excluding Iraq, the 12 members which participate in output agreements pumped an average 29.49 mm bpd, 360,000 bpd down from an estimated 29.85 mm bpd in March.
"OPEC production has been relatively steady in recent months, but the sharp fall in Nigerian output shows how vulnerable overall supply from the group can be to developments in one country," said John Kingston, Platts global director of oil. "Given that spare capacity is also relatively tight, any disruption has a bigger impact on markets."

Ongoing losses in Nigerian supply as a result of continuing strife in the Niger Delta were exacerbated by a week-long pay strike at ExxonMobil, which shut down most of the company's 800,000 bpd of production and forced it to declare force majeure on exports from the 400,000 bpd Qua Iboe terminal.
Other smaller decreases came from Angola, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Iraqi volumes were a shade higher at 2.38 mm bpd, with a slight dip in exports offset by slightly higher internal supply. Libyan output also edged up, to 1.75 mm bpd from 1.74 mm bpd in March.
The latest estimates show the OPEC-12 missing their 29.673 mm bpd output target by 183,000 bpd.

Platts OPEC survey 2008
Country -- April -- March -- February -- January -- Target
Algeria -- 1.390 -- 1.390 -- 1.390 -- 1.390 -- 1.357
Angola -- 1.850 -- 1.900 -- 1.900 -- 1.850 -- 1.900
Ecuador -- 0.500 -- 0.500 -- 0.490 -- 0.500 -- 0.520
Indonesia -- 0.860 -- 0.860 -- 0.860 -- 0.830 -- 0.865
Iran -- 3.940 -- 3.960 -- 3.930 -- 3.980 -- 3.817
Kuwait -- 2.550 -- 2.550 -- 2.550 -- 2.550 -- 2.531
Libya -- 1.750 -- 1.740 -- 1.740 -- 1.740 -- 1.712
Nigeria -- 1.800 -- 2.020 -- 2.100 -- 2.100 -- 2.163
Qatar -- 0.830 -- 0.840 -- 0.830 -- 0.830 -- 0.828
Saudi Arabia -- 9.100 -- 9.150 -- 9.150 -- 9.200 -- 8.943
UAE -- 2.590 -- 2.590 -- 2.590 -- 2.590 -- 2.567
Venezuela -- 2.330 -- 2.350 -- 2.400 -- 2.400 -- 2.470
OPEC-12 -- 29.490 -- 29.850 -- 29.930 -- 29.960 -- 29.673
Iraq -- 2.380 -- 2.370 -- 2.400 -- 2.290 -- N/A
Total -- 31.870 -- 32.220 -- 32.330 -- 32.250

Source: www.foxbusiness.com