OPEC oil output above target for March

OPEC's oil output in March is expected to average around one million barrels per day (bpd) above its target as Iran and some other members pump above agreed levels, an industry consultant said on Friday.

Output from the 11 OPEC members with production targets is expected to average 25.9m bpd, compared with a revised 25.93m in February, Conrad Gerber, head of Petrologistics, said.

The estimate implies the group delivered on around 75 percent of 4.2m bpd of output cuts agreed since last year, according to Reuters calculations - less than the 80 percent found by many analysts for February.

"They are still around one million barrels above the target," Gerber said.

"The Iranians are over their target, the Angolans are well over and the Venezuelans are over."

The Petrologistics estimate suggests OPEC is pumping 1.06 million bpd above a collective target of 24.84m bpd that took effect on Jan. 1.

That means members have made 3.14m bpd of the 4.2m bpd cutback promised.

Even so, a compliance rate of 75 percent is still relatively high based on the group's past performance in meeting promised cutbacks.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, source of more than a third of the world's oil, began reducing supply in September to prop up prices that have collapsed as the economic crisis erodes demand.

Oil prices fell on Friday.

US crude was down $2.34 at $52.00 a barrel by 1505 GMT.

It has dropped from a record near $150 since last year.

Top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia has led the OPEC cutbacks.

It is pumping 8.05m bpd in March, in line with its OPEC target, and down from an upwardly-revised 8.13m bpd in February, Gerber said.

But Iran, OPEC's second-largest producer behind Saudi Arabia, is expected to pump 3.75m bpd in March, he said.

Iran's OPEC target is 3.34m bpd.

Gerber did not provide exact figures for Angola and Venezuela's supply.

Iraq's production is expected to average 2.24 million bpd compared with 2.28  bpd in February, he said.

That brings supply in March from all 12 OPEC members to 28.14m bpd.

Geneva-based Petrologistics measures OPEC supply, which excludes oil produced and placed in storage, by tracking oil tanker shipments and estimating domestic consumption.

OPEC does not issue timely estimates of its own production. (Reuters)