The OPEC Summit was concluded with no big headlines. The ministers have decided to keep OPEC’s quota unchanged at 30 million bbl/d. Currently, OPEC’s production is roughly 30.8 million bbl/d. According to the December report by the IEA – International Energy Agency on the recent developments in the global oil market during November/October 2012, the oil production remained robust in OPEC and non-OPEC countries. OECD oil inventories declined again during October; projected demand for oil was revised upward for the last quarter of 2012.
According to the latest monthly update, during November, OPEC’s oil production inched up to 30.2 million bbl/d. Iran’s production slightly declined mainly due to U.S and EU shipment constraint.
The non-OPEC countries’ oil production is rose by 0.7 mb/d in November to reach 54 mb/d. According to the IEA update, the increase was mostly due to the rise in U.S, North Sea and Brazil’s oil production. In 2013 the growth is projected at 0.9 mb/d to reach 54.2 mb/d.
The global oil demand projection is expected to reach 90.5 mbbl/d during the last quarter of 2012 – a bump of 0.43 mb/d in the projected demand from last month. In 2013 the expected growth is expected to be sluggish.
In the report, the OECD industry oil inventories declined by 16.2 million bbl to 2,722 million bbl in October 2012, after a seven month rise in inventories; this means that the oil market has slightly tighten in OECD countries; currently, OECD oil inventories are expected to fall again in November.
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