Crude oil production by members of the energy cartel OPEC rose by 200,000 barrels a day in May as kingpin Saudi Arabia ramped up supply to cover Libya’s shortfall, a report said Monday.
OPEC production rose to 29.04 million b/d last month from 28.84 million b/d in April, according to data from London-based analysts at Platts.
The cartel has struggled to bridge a shortfall caused by Libyan supply going offline in the wake of a widespread rebel-led uprising against ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
“OPEC produced 29.8 million b/d before the Libyan uprising and it’s only climbed back above 29 million b/d with the increases of the past month,” said John Kingston, Platts global director of news.
“Most supply/demand estimates see an absolute minimum need for output of 30 million b/d in the second half of the year. It’s a large jump, and all eyes will be on Saudi Arabia to see if it can get the job done.”
OPEC talks broke down in acrimony last week without an agreement to raise oil output after Saudi Arabia failed to convince the cartel to lift production. The kingdom’s oil minister Ali Al Naimi described the meeting as the “worst ever” after members including Iran and Venezuela blocked a bid to raise group output by 1.5 million barrels a day to 30.3 million barrels.
“You can see that the task ahead of Saudi Arabia, and any other nation determined to meet what is expected to be steadily increasing demand, is substantial,” said Kingston.
Figures showed the kingdom surged well above its OPEC quota of just over 8 million b/d, with production in May increasing to 9.05 million b/d.
Other increases came from Nigeria, Qatar and Venezuela, while volumes dipped in Algeria, Angola, Iran, Libya and the UAE.
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