OPEC pumps 29.17 million barrels of oil per day in October

London - November 11, 2010

Crude Oil Production Rose 140,000 Barrels Per Day From September

Crude oil production from the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose by 140,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 29.17 million b/d in October due to higher volumes from Angola and Nigeria, a just-released Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts showed.

“With oil prices now brushing against $90 a barrel, this added supply is certainly good news for consumers,” said John Kingston, Platts global director of news. “The question now is whether the Saudis, who hold the greatest amount of unused capacity, turn loose some of that oil into the market. If they believe that the price increase is a result of a declining dollar, then they may not believe that more oil supply is the remedy.”

Excluding Iraq, which does not participate in OPEC production agreements, output from the 11 members bound by quotas (OPEC-11) increased by 150,000 b/d to 26.78 million b/d.

Smaller increases totalling 60,000 b/d came from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran and Qatar, but these boosts were offset by decreases totalling 70,000 b/d from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Venezuela.

The latest estimates leave the OPEC-11 overproducing their 24.845-million-b/d output target, in place since January 2009, by 1.935 million b/d. This suggests a compliance rate of approximately 54% with the 4 million b/d of output cuts agreed in late 2008.

Oil prices traded between $70 and $80 per barrel (/b) for much of this year, but recent weeks have seen steady price activity above this range. November 11 saw international crude benchmarks North Sea Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures trade at two-year highs of $89.70/b and $88.63/b respectively.

OPEC ministers will meet December 11 in Quito, Ecuador, but are not currently expected to make any adjustments to official targets.

OPEC sets a production target for twelve of its 13 members. Iraq, which is struggling to rebuild its oil industry after years of UN sanctions and a war led by the US, does not have a production quota.

All figures are in millions of barrels per day.

* OPEC has not published individual allocations under the 24.845 million b/d target total which came into effect on January 1, 2009. The above figures are calculated by Platts.

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