OpeOluwani Akintayo, with agency reports
01 July 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, boosted oil supply by 700,000 barrels per day in June, a Reuters survey, quoting an anonymous source, has shown.
The survey showed that the country’s exports stood at 10.70 million barrels per day in the month under review, up by 700,000 bpd from May.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, Russia and other countries involved in the Declaration of Cooperation, DoC, during their recent meeting in Vienna, decided to boost production by 1 million barrels per day starting from this month, a return to 100 percent cuts from 145 percent recorded in May.
“The Saudi number for June will be very, very high,” an industry source who tracks the kingdom’s oil output said. “Surprisingly high.”
Analysts said the Saudi move is a clear indication it wants to moderate oil prices, which this year hit $80 a barrel for the first time since 2014, prompting consumers like the United States to raise concerns and to make up shortfalls in other OPEC members.
The Saudi increase comes as the United States has urged Riyadh and some other OPEC members to raise output to compensate for supply losses caused by renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran.
However, Iran has said it does not support an increase in output by OPEC.
“Our resolution does not allow any member to produce more than their quota,” Iran’s OPEC governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili told Reuters. “If they do, it means the State Department is running OPEC.”
Saudi production usually rises in the hot summer months as more crude is used in domestic power plants. The previous high for Saudi output is 10.72 million bpd in November 2016.
Quoting another source, the outlet said Saudi’s production plans will rise higher in July to around 11 million bpd.
