Crude oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell to 30.25 million barrels per day (b/d) in March from 30.42 million b/d in February, a decrease of 170,000 b/d, as Iraqi and Nigerian volumes dropped, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts released Wednesday.

“It’s possible that some of the individual country declines could be attributed to reacting to weaker demand, but that’s mostly been the role of Saudi Arabia,” said John Kingston, Platts global director of news. “Instead, when one examines the declines from Iraq, Nigeria, and Libya, it raises the question whether there are only two countries that can really combat these declines: Saudi Arabia and the United States, given its rising output.”

Output from Iraq, whose exports from the south plunged because of rough weather in the northern Gulf, fell to approximately three million b/d from 3.1 million last month, the survey showed.

Nigerian production fell by 80,000 b/d to 1.98 million b/d in March, following Shell's two-week force majeure on loadings of Bonny Light after a rupture on the 150,000 b/d Nembe Creek Trunkline. The rupture followed a spate of oil theft activities and Shell said last week it would shut down the line in April "to remove crude theft points in continuation of efforts to ensure the integrity of the facility."

Tags: Platts