OPEC'S OIL OUTPUT DIVES BY 930,000 B/D FROM DECEMBER
The 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 28.97 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in January, according to a Platts survey of OPEC, oil industry officials and analysts just released. This is a decline of 930,000 b/d from the December level of 29.9 million b/d.
Excluding Iraq, production from the 11 members bound by output agreements fell by 970,000 b/d to 26.54 million b/d from the December estimate of 27.51 million b/d, the survey showed.
This leaves the OPEC-11 some 1.695 million b/d above its 24.845 million b/d target, agreed to at OPEC's December 17 meeting in Oran, Algeria, and which came into effect at the beginning of January.
"OPEC has managed to slash nearly a million barrels a day of production over the past month," said Platts Global Director of Oil John Kingston. "It still needs to cut a further 1.7 million barrels per day to reach its target. The question now is whether ministers meeting in Vienna in just a month's time will be willing to give the current agreement time to work or whether there will be calls for new cuts."
OPEC's biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, accounted for the biggest single cut, reducing its production by 340,000 b/d to 8.03 million b/d in January from 8.37 million b/d in December.
Iran cut output by 140,000 b/d to average 3.7 million b/d, while Kuwaiti output fell by 130,000 b/d to 2.33 million b/d.
Other countries cut by smaller volumes ranging from 10,000 b/d in the case of Ecuador to 80,000 b/d in the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Iraqi supply rose by 40,000 b/d to average 2.43 million b/d, driven by higher exports.
OPEC is next scheduled to meet on March 15 in Vienna.
CHINA’S NET CRUDE IMPORTS DECLINE TO LOWEST IN A YEAR
By Wang Ying
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- China’s net crude-oil imports declined to the lowest level in more than a year as a slowdown in the world’s third-largest economy cut demand.
Net imports dropped by 10 percent to 12.37 million metric tons in January, about 2.9 million barrels a day, the lowest since December 2007, according to calculations based on data posted on the Web site of the Beijing-based Customs General Administration of China.
Fuel demand growth has fallen as manufacturers shut plants and cut production because of declining export orders. China’s oil demand will grow at a “noticeably lower rate” this year as the economy slows, China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s biggest oil producer, said yesterday.
The fall in imports is “of no surprise,” Gordon Kwan, head of China energy research at CLSA Ltd., said in an e-mail today. The decline is “consistent with the anecdotal evidence of factory shutdowns that we’ve observed in the past few months,” Kwan said, adding he expected another “weak number” in February.
Crude-oil imports dropped by 8 percent to 12.82 million tons from a year earlier while overseas shipments of the fuel more than doubled, rising 156 percent to 450,000 tons, the customs said today.
China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, may face an energy oversupply within the next two years as the global recession slows the country’s economy, Wang Siqiang, a deputy director at the National Energy Administration, said on Dec. 12.
Economy, Exports
China’s economy expanded at the slowest pace in seven years in the fourth quarter of 2008. Exports fell by the most in almost 13 years, today’s customs data show.
The country may enact a stimulus plan for the refining and petrochemicals industry before the legislature gathers in March, an official at the state-backed China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association said Feb. 3.
China will take advantage of current lower prices to boost imports of oil and natural gas as it builds reserves, Zhang Guobao, head of the energy administration, said on Dec. 29. The benchmark oil price in New York has fallen more than 70 percent from its July’s record of $147.27 a barrel.
“Let’s wait and see if the import figures could turn up starting from the second quarter following the recent stimulus measures or through China’s strategic reserves buying,” Kwan said.
The nation’s coal exports fell by 36 percent to 3.66 million tons, the customs said, without giving import figures. Oil- product imports declined by 26 percent to 2.39 million tons and exports dropped 6.5 percent to 1.13 million tons, it said.
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