OpeOluwani Akintayo
17 October 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Fresh data obtained from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, have shown that more crude oil supply from non-OPEC producers is increasingly finding its way into the international market.
This insight comes on the heels of call by US President Donald Trump on OPEC to increase supply to boost prices.
However, OPEC’s Secretary-General, Mohammed Barkindo, in a statement, said the market is “well-supplied”.
The US is gunning to becomes the largest exporter of crude oil over Russia and Saudi Arabia, thanks to the country’s booming shale oil production, which costs less than OPEC grades.
According to the data, OPEC revised the non-OPEC oil supply in 2018 up by 0.22 million barrels per day, mb/d, from that contained in the previous Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR, to average 59.77 mb/d, due to upward revisions in the historical production data of the US, Canada, Russia, Colombia and ethanol (since 2016) in Brazil.
Non-OPEC oil supply in 2019 was also revised up by 0.18 mb/d and is now projected to reach an average of 61.89 mb/d.
The 2019 non-OPEC supply forecast is subject to many uncertainties with the upside potential looming larger than the downside risk, OPEC said.
