Latest OPEC oil production figures Update Nov, 2013

• Crude oil production from OPEC was 30.28mn b/d in August, down 60,000 b/d from July, according to the latest (10 September) Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts.
• Output dropped as oil worker strikes and protests drove Libyan production below the 300,000-b/d level towards the end of The month. Overall, Libyan production was down 440,000 b/d from July to 560,000 b/d in August. Higher output from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Iraq was not enough to offset the Libyan production loss.
• The plunge in Libyan production draws attention to OPEC and what it can – and can’t – deliver, and this report clearly shows where the problem areas are.
• Apart from sanctions strapped Iran and Libya itself, a number of other OPEC countries are facing production challenges.
• This concentrates focus on Saudi Arabia, which the Platts survey estimates to have pumped 10mn b/d in August, and begs the question: Will Riyadh be able and willing to maintain or exceed this level if the world needs more oil?’
• Saudi Arabia boosted output by 220,000 b/d to 10mn b/d in August, up from 9.78mn b/d in July, while Iraqi output recovered by 170,000 b/d to 3.15mn b/d, from 2.98mn b/d in July.
• There were also smaller increases from Ecuador, Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
• Output had averaged 560,000 b/d in August and had steadied at around 240,000 b/d in early September.
• Benchmark Brent crude oil prices climbed above $117/b in late August in response to the slump in Libyan production and amid expectations of military strikes on Syria.
• The collapse of Libyan production and exports during the 2011 civil war eventually saw the International Energy Agency (IEA) order oil to be released from the emergency stockpile. However, the IEA has downplayed the likelihood of any similar move this time around.
• A spokesman for the agency said in last August that the agency was concerned about the ‘harmful effects of high oil prices on the global economic recovery’, was monitoring the market and stood ready to respond in the event of a major supply disruption. He added: ‘The current situation does not call for an IEA response. Platts also reports that on 9 September, OPEC was monitoring the Libyan situation closely but that there was no wider shortage of crude. Indeed, the market appeared to be in a ‘healthy situation’.
• OPEC production had been above 31mn b/d for most of 2012, climbing as high as 31.75mn b/d in May last year, according to the Platts survey. It dipped to 30.65mn b/d in December and, apart from the occasional upward blip, has been falling since then.