From the kingdom whose production of reserve reassurances is nearly as
impressive as its' production of oil comes the plead to help it cool
global oil prices. Strange if Saudi Arabia has millions of barrels of
daily oil production spare capacity. This of course comes as no
surprise to the growing disrespectorate of the USGS/EIA/IEA official
cornucopian spin.
***
OPEC Presses Non-OPEC for More Oil
Reuters
Wednesday, June 16, 2004; 4:31 AM
By Muklis Ali
JAKARTA (Reuters) - OPEC said on Wednesday it will ask producers
outside the cartel to raise output to help cool high prices, but got a
quick reply from Russia saying it had no slack in its system to boost
exports.
OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said he will write to Russia,
Angola, Mexico and Oman to request they pump more crude after Iraqi
exports were knocked out by sabotage and prices have stayed stuck
above $35 a barrel, depite an injection of extra OPEC barrels.
"They have spare capacity to increase production," Purnomo, also
Indonesian oil minister, told reporters. He did not give any details
or timeframe.
The Interfax news agency quoted Moscow's number two oil official as
saying that Russia had no spare capacity.
"We don't have a tap that we can just turn on and off. We are
producing exactly as much as we can," said Sergei Oganesyan.
Russia is the biggest non-OPEC producer with output of around nine
million bpd. Together with Angola, Oman and Mexico, the producers pump
14.64 million bpd, or 18 percent of world supply.
Mexico has already said it aims to increase crude exports to 1.95
million bpd from 1.88 million by the second half of 2004, while Oman
is struggling to arrest a steep decline in its output due to aging
fields.
A government official said in April it would spend $727 million this
year to stem the output decline, which has seen crude flows drop to
760,000 bpd from 900,000 bpd in 2001.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on June 3
to increase formal supply limits by two million bpd from July 1 and by
another 500,000 from August 1 to stop a run-up in oil prices to the
highest levels in 21 years above $42 a barrel.
Although prices have eased from the peaks, the market headed higher
again on Wednesday after saboteurs attacked oil pipelines in Iraq,
knocking out the country's crude exports.
U.S. crude climbed 29 cents to $37.48 a barrel.
Iraq, an OPEC member, had been exporting 1.6 million to 1.7 million
barrels a day (bpd), mostly from the southern oil terminal Basra.
Fears that militants would strike at oil facilities in the Middle East
have pushed prices higher this year. Robust economic growth and strong
oil demand, especially in the United States and China, have left
little room in the supply chain for any disruption in a major
producer.
Tanker tracking consultancy Petrologistics estimates OPEC's 10 core
members, excluding Iraq, will lift supplies by 800,000 bpd in June,
before the increase of formal limits next month.
Petrologistics estimates OPEC 10 output for June at 27.4 million bpd,
just 500,000 bpd short of what the International Energy Agency says is
the group's sustainable capacity.
***
***
http://www.rbs.co.uk/Group_Information/Newsroom/Press_Releases/2004/Ju
ne/02_oil. htm
Oil Production Down for 16th Month in a Row
02 June 2004
UK oil production in March fell by 10.9 per cent against March of
last year – the 16th consecutive month where UK oil production fell
on a year on year basis – according to the latest Royal Bank of
Scotland Oil & Gas Index. It rose on the month by 1.7 per cent,
averaging over 2 million barrels per day. UK gas production averaged
12,070 mmcfd per day in March, down 2.8 per cent on the year.
Tony Wood, Senior Economist with the Royal Bank said: "This sustained
fall in oil production suggests that UK oil production has peaked.
However, sterling revenues are being supported by the current period
of high oil prices."
Combined oil and gas production rose to over 4 million barrels per
day in March which was up on the month by 0.7 per cent and down on
the year by 6.9 per cent.
Higher oil prices meant that monthly oil revenues were at their
highest level since March 2003 at £37 million. The past two months
have seen rises in the price of crude oil, with Brent averaging
$34.78 a barrel, and WTI averaging $38.16 a barrel and closing above
the $40 mark on 11 separate days.
Tony Wood added: "Current prices are being driven by a combination of
strong demand growth, including very strong crude demand from China,
increased concerns about the security of Middle Eastern crude
supplies and some market speculation. The tightness of product
markets and high geopolitical risks suggests that prices could go
higher during the summer, although we expect them to fall in the
the year."
***
--
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