OPEC crude production increases by 138bpd

CRUDE oil production from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increased by 130,800 barrels a day in April to 29.59 million per day.

  This significant improvement, according to the oil cartel is monthly report for May, was driven by a recovery in Iraqi supplies. Crude oil output increased mainly from Iraq, while production fell in other member countries.
  Specifically, Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped by 8.5 barrels per day in the month under review.
  OPEC crude production, not including Iraq, stood at 26.29 mbpd in April, an increase of 29 tbpd over the previous month.
  Iraq’s production climbed by 102,100 barrels a day to 3.3 million. Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest member and de facto leader, boosted supplies by 22,500 barrels a day in April to 9.58 million.
  Supplies from Libya remained little changed last month at 238,000 barrels a day.
   Total output is about 400,000 barrels a day below the group’s formal target of 30 million. The organization will meet to review this figure at its next meeting in Vienna on June 11. OPEC’s members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
  The call-on-OPEC is estimated at 30.7 million barrels a day in the third quarter, when summer demand for driving fuels is at its highest, requiring the group to raise output by about 1.1 million barrels a day from current levels, the report indicated.
  OPEC kept its forecast for global oil demand in 2014 unchanged. World consumption will advance by 1.1 million barrels a day, or 1.3 percent, to average 91.15 million a day, according to the report.
  Meanwhile, the OPEC may struggle to catch up with rising oil demand, an energy watchdog said Thursday as it upgraded consumption forecasts.
  In its monthly oil market report, the International Energy Agency which advises industrialized nations on energy matters said that “while OPEC has more than enough capacity to deliver, it remains to be seen whether it will manage to overcome the above‐ground hurdles that have plagued some of its member countries lately.”
  Outages in countries like Libya and Nigeria and sanctions on Iran have kept the output of the OPEC below its target of 30 million barrels a day in recent months.
  After hitting five-month lows in March, OPEC crude oil production rebounded by 405,000 barrels a day to 29.90 million barrels a day in April due to higher Iraqi and Saudi production, the agency said. But that is still much lower than its estimated demand for the group’s oil, which was raised by 140,000 barrels a day to 30.7 million barrels a day for the second half of this year. The OPEC demand forecast also includes changes in stocks.
  The IEA also upgraded its forecast of global oil demand for 2014 by 65,000 barrels a day due to stronger consumption in the U.S. and upward revisions in Japan, Germany and the U.K. The agency now expects global oil demand to average 92.8 million barrels a day this year.