Saudi Arabia Boosted Oil Production By 400,000 Bpd In June

Saudi Arabia had opened the taps even before OPEC and Russia agreed at the end of June to ease the production cuts to respond to the high oil prices and supply disruptions, judging from OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report that showed the Saudis boosted their crude oil production in June by more than 400,000 bpd.

According to OPEC’s secondary sources, the ones the cartel uses to calculate quotas and compliance, Saudi Arabia’s oil production jumped in June by 405,400 bpd compared to May, to reach 10.420 million bpd.

The figures that Saudi Arabia self-reported to OPEC, based on direct communication, did not diverge a lot from the OPEC secondary sources assessment. The Saudis told OPEC that they had pumped 10.489 million bpd last month, up by 459,000 bpd compared to May.

The close Saudi allies, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also boosted their production in June, by 27,300 bpd and 35,100 bpd respectively, but their production figures were not much higher than their production ceilings in the original OPEC deal.

According to OPEC’s secondary sources, production in Iran dropped by 22,700 bpd, while Iraq’s production jumped by 71,500 bpd.

Total OPEC-15 crude oil production averaged 32.33 million bpd in June, up by 173,000 bpd compared to May.

Related: OPEC Won’t Take Additional Action As Oil Prices Rise

The Saudi production boost would have raised OPEC’s total production much higher had it not been for the plunge in production in Libya, whose oil ports were closed last month after the battle over oil terminals renewed, another slump in Venezuela’s output, and additional decline in Angola’s production.

Libya’s crude oil production plummeted by 254,300 bpd to average 708,000 bpd in June. Angola’s production slumped by 88,300 bpd to 1.431 million bpd. Venezuela’s production decline wasn’t the biggest, but it has been consistent for months. Last month, crude oil production in Venezuela dropped by another 47,500 bpd to average 1.34 million bpd.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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