Platts Survey: March OPEC Oil Output Fell to 27.98 Mil. Barrels Per Day

Production down 90,000 barrels per day

LONDON — Platts — The 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 27.98 million barrels per day (b/d) in March, as the oil producer group continued its efforts to slash oversupply and prevent oil prices falling further, according to a Platts survey of OPEC, oil industry officials and analysts just released. This is down 90,000 b/d down from February’s 28.07 million b/d.

Production from the 11 OPEC members bound by quotas fell to 25.61 million b/d, a drop of 110,000 b/d from 25.72 million b/d in February. But this is still 765,000 b/d above their collective 24.845 million b/d output target, the survey showed. Iraq, which does not have a quota, is allowed to produce at will as it struggles to rebuild its oil industry.

“Given that prices have stabilized and output dropped only slightly this month, it’s possible we’ve reached a bottom in OPEC output,” said Platts Global Director of Oil John Kingston. “If that’s the case, OPEC did a fairly remarkable job in stabilizing the market, at least so far. The supply/demand fundamentals that it faced a few months ago easily could have pushed prices down another $10 or more from their lows. The organization acted decisively, and it shows in the stability around $50.”

Using OPEC’s 29.045 million b/d baseline for the 4.2 million b/d in cuts implemented late last year — its own estimate of September 2008 production from the OPEC-11 — the survey suggests a compliance rate of 81.79% with the cuts, slightly higher than estimated February compliance of 79.2%.

PR Newswire