July OPEC oil production peaks in 2018, but breakdowns weigh

OPEC oil production increased this month until 2018 when Gulf members increased after an agreement to relax the restrictions and the Republic of Congo joined the group, according to a Reuters survey. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 32.64 million barrels a day in July, the survey said on Monday, up 70,000 bpd from June's revised level and the highest this year. year with the addition of Congo

. US President Donald Trump has urged producers to offset the losses caused by the new US sanctions against Iran and to cut prices, which hit $ 80 a barrel for the first time since 2014.

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On 22 and 23 June, L & # 39; OPEC, Russia and other non-members agreed to comply 100% with the decreases in oil production that began in January 2017, after months of under-production in Venezuela and elsewhere pushing membership to more than 160%.

OPEC's collective decision-making on supply targets dropped to 111% in July from 116% in June, according to the survey, which means that it cut further and further from

KUWAIT, WATER

Following the OPEC decision, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates respectively increased their production by 80,000 b / d and by 40,000 b / d. j in July 1965

. were delivered in June while Riyadh operated the storage tanks to bring the supply to 10.60 million bpd, close to a record. The increase exasperated Iran and surprised the other members of OPEC by its magnitude.

Riyadh boosted supply in July by an additional 50,000 bpd over the revised June level, according to the study, because crude oil has increased in refineries and power plants. Production in Nigeria, often curbed by unforeseen failures, increased by 50,000 b / d. The Nigerian company Royal Dutch Shell has lifted the major force on Bonny Light crude exports. Nigeria and Libya have been exempted from the original supply cutting agreement.

Iraq also increased supplies as exports grew from southern terminals of the country.

Among the countries with the lowest production, the largest decrease of 100,000 bpd was in Iran. Exports dropped as US sanctions discouraged companies from buying the country's oil.

Production in Libya, which remains unstable due to unrest, declined slightly. Fields in eastern Libya resumed production after the clashes in the export terminals ended, but production was cut in mid-month on the largest oilfield, Sharara

Production also fell in Venezuela. and Angola due to declining exports in July in a context of natural decline in oil deposits.

The addition of the Republic of Congo to OPEC in June added about 320,000 b / d to production and increased OPEC. Prior to Congo's membership, OPEC had an implicit production target for 2018 of 32.78 million bpd, based on the cuts announced at the end of 2016 and Nigeria's and Libya's production forecasts. from 2018.

According to the survey, OPEC to the exclusion of Congo pumped about 460,000 bpd below this implicit target in July.

The survey aims to track the market bid and is based on pro data Thomson Reuters disseminates data and information provided by external sources to oil companies, OPEC and consulting companies.

(Edited by David Evans)