According to FT due to the recent turmoil in the Middle East, and in particular in Libya – an OPEC member and responsible for nearly 2% of the oil output worldwide – OPEC members (Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria) have joined Saudi Arabia and raise their output to coup with the decline in Libya’s oil output, which has declined according to IEA from nearly 1.6 mb/d to roughly 0.6 mb/d.
According to the article the output of these countries will rise by 300,000 b/d in the next several weeks, this is on top of the increase of 700,000 b/d in Saudi Arabia’s output.
This is an attempt to reduce the current heated oil market and the recent rise in crude oil price to pass the 100$/b mark (WTI).
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For more on this subject:
Weekly outlook for Crude oil, Natural gas and Gold 7-11 March
Oil prices rise as Libyan turmoil progress – Weekly recap 28 Feb 4 Mar