OPEC to cut exports, Oil Movements says

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will reduce crude shipments by 0.3 percent to the middle of next month as refiners cut imports while they conduct maintenance, tanker-tracker Oil Movements said.

OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s crude oil, will ship 23.38 million barrels a day in the four weeks to September 11, down from 23.45 million barrels a day in the month to August 14, the Halifax, England based consultant said today in a report. The data exclude Ecuador and Angola.

On phone from Halifax, England, Oil Movements founder Roy Mason said: “This is really the low point of the year for long haul crude.” He went on to say: “In September the tanker market goes to sleep.”

Shipments from Middle East producers, including those from non-OPEC members Oman and Yemen, will fall by 0.4 percent to 17.28 million barrels a day in the period, data from Oil Movements show.

Processing rates at US refineries fell by 2.3 percent last week to 87.7 percent of capacity, the Energy Department reported yesterday. Plants typically idle units at this time as demand for summer driving fuels ebbs.

Seaborne exports to Asia from the Arabian Gulf will advance to 12.5 million barrels a day in the period, up from 12.46 million the previous month, Mason said.

A total of 467.38 million barrels of oil will be on board tankers up to mid-September, down 0.5 percent from 469.68 million barrels to August 14, according to Oil Movements.

Oil Movements calculates shipments by keeping a tally of tanker rental agreements. Its figures exclude crude held on board ships used as floating storage.

OPEC’s members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

The organization is next scheduled to meet on October 14 at its Vienna headquarters.