Sunday 22 September 2019

Jun 14, 2019: OPEC’s Oil Output Hits 5 Year Low


OPEC is an abbreviation for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This is a union of oil producing countries that regulate the amount of oil each country is able to produce. An example of OPEC members are Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. Oil output from OPEC fell in May. It hit a five-year low. The group warned that U.S.-China trade tensions could lead to slower economic growth and weak fuel demand. Production from the 14-nation producer club fell by 236,000 barrels per day last month to 29.88 million bpd. This was according to independent sources cited by OPEC in its monthly report. It was the first time OPEC pumped below 30 million bpd since June 2014. However, Angola and Iraq increased their May production. Angola added 74,000 barrels per day to reach 1.471 million barrels per day. Iraq increased oil production by 94,000 barrels per day, to 4.724 million bpd. The overall decline in production comes as OPEC is considering whether to extend a 6-month deal to hold down output. In the monthly report, OPEC says it will carefully consider the economic outlook when it meets with Russia and other oil-exporting nations in the next weeks.

OPEC said that throughout the first half of this year, ongoing global trade tensions have escalated. The problem is that the tensions will grow too much. Geo-political risks remain in many key regions. The slowdown of global economic activities is a sad result of this. The growth is weaker in global oil demand compared to a year earlier.

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