OPEC Output Rises 360,000 b/d in July, According to Platts.

Business Editors

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 2002

OPEC boosted its crude output by 360,000 barrels per day (b/d) in July, its eleven members pumping an average 25.2-mil b/d over the month, a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials showed on August 8.

Platts is the energy information, research, consulting and marketing services business of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP).

Excluding Iraq, which does not participate in OPEC output pacts, supply from the ten members with quotas rose by 280,000 b/d to 23.5-mil b/d. These ten countries are now exceeding their collective 21.7-mil b/d production ceiling by 1.8-mil b/d, the survey showed.

Only two countries reduced production - Indonesia and Iran - with output falling by 20,000 b/d and 10,000 b/d, respectively. But the combined decrease of 30,000 b/d was more than offset by increases from other members totaling 390,000 b/d. The biggest single increase--160,000 b/d--came from Saudi Arabia, whose output rose from 7.49-mil b/d in June to 7.65-mil b/d in July.

"The survey shows OPEC overproducing its ceiling by 1.8-mil b/d, which exceeds the 1.5-mil b/d in cuts implemented at the start of the year," commented Peter Zipf, Editor in Chief of Platts' Oilgram News. "A quandary for OPEC is how to accommodate this overproduction into a credible agreement in September, when the group is expected to increase its output."

Iraq, whose exports under the UN's oil-for-aid program have been erratic for several months, was estimated to have produced an average 1.7-mil b/d in July, up 80,000 b/d from June's 1.62-mil b/d.

Venezuela boosted production by 50,000 b/d to 2.72-mil b/d. In April, Platts estimated Venezuela's crude output capacity at 3-mil b/d, although some analysts suggested even then that Venezuelan capacity might have already declined beyond that level.

Nigerian production climbed back above 1.9-mil b/d in July, having fallen to 1.87-mil b/d in June. Algerian production has continued to edge up.

Both Nigeria and Algeria are seeking higher OPEC quotas, Algeria having already made a formal request for the matter to be discussed at the September 19 ministerial conference, to be held in Osaka, Japan.

Country-by-country breakdown of production with figures in millions of
b/d

Country    July 02    June 02    May 02    April 02    Mar 02    Quota

Algeria    0.860      0.850      0.830     0.810       0.800     0.693

Indonesia  1.110      1.130      1.130     1.140       1.140     1.125

Iran       3.390      3.400      3.370     3.340       3.380     3.186

Iraq       1.700      1.620      1.790     1.210       2.510     N/A

Kuwait     1.900      1.890      1.880     1.870       1.850     1.741

Libya      1.330      1.320      1.310     1.300       1.290     1.162

Nigeria    1.920      1.870      1.900     1.950       1.970     1.787

Qatar      0.640      0.640      0.640     0.620       0.600     0.562

Saudi
Arabia     7.650      7.490      7.430     7.430       7.370     7.053

UAE        1.980      1.960      1.960     1.970       1.960     1.894

Venezuela  2.720      2.670      2.680     2.480       2.580     2.497

Total     25.200    24.8400     24.920    24.120      25.450

OPEC 10   23.500     23.220     23.130    22.910      22.940     21.70
(excluding IRAQ)

For more information on OPEC, go to the "Platts Guide to OPEC" at www.platts.com/opec/index.shtml

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