OPEC oil output 'to fall by 1.2bn barrels a day in Nov'

OUTPUT CUT: Oil producers are estimated to cut supply by 1.2 billion barrels a day. (Getty Images)

OPEC oil production is expected to fall by 1.22 million barrels per day in November as members implement a deal to cut supplies, industry consultant Petrologistics said on Friday.

The estimate indicates that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is delivering on the bulk of its pledge to lower supply by about 2 million bpd to prop up oil prices.

Oil output from 12 OPEC members and Indonesia, which is leaving the group, is expected to average 30.98 million bpd, down from 32.2 million bpd in October, Conrad Gerber of Petrologistics said.

"OPEC is on track but it needs to do more," Gerber told Reuters. "Supply from most of them is coming down."

OPEC agreed in late October to lower output by 1.5 million bpd from Nov. 1 in a bid to support oil prices. That came on top of an earlier deal to trim supply by about 500,000 bpd.

The cutback in November is being led by top world exporter Saudi Arabia, which is expected to lower output by 550,000 bpd to 8.95 million bpd, Gerber said.

Further reductions are coming from other Gulf OPEC members.

Kuwait is forecast to supply 2.49 million bpd, almost 200,000 bpd less than in October, and output from the UAE is expected to be down 230,000 bpd at 2.33 million bpd.

OPEC's second-largest producer, Iran, is forecast to trim supply by 80,000 bpd to 3.67 million bpd.

Output from Iraq, which is excluded from OPEC's agreements to limit supplies, is forecast to rise by about 100,000 bpd to 2.38 million bpd, Gerber said, due to higher exports from the south of the country.

The producer group is cutting output in a bid to prop up oil prices, which have slumped to $50 a barrel from a record high above $147 four months ago as the slowing world economy erodes oil demand.

With the supply cuts so far agreed by OPEC yet to stop oil prices from falling, some in the group are calling for output to be cut back further.

OPEC oil ministers will gather for informal talks in Cairo on Nov. 29 and are scheduled to meet again on Dec. 17 in Oran, Algeria.

Petrologistics measures OPEC supply, which excludes oil produced and placed into storage, by tracking oil tanker shipments. OPEC itself does not issue timely estimates of its own production. (Reuters)

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