OPEC says quota busting reaches 1.8 mbpd in July
Reuters, 08.19.02, 5:45 AM ET
LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - OPEC said on Monday that its 10 member countries with oil output quotas pumped 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) above their official limits in July.
Using secondary sources to estimate its own flow rates, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said those countries produced 23.50 million bpd of crude in July, versus a formal ceiling of 21.7 million.
Quota-busting was 338,000 barrels per day greater in July that a revised estimate for June, the group's monthly oil market report showed.
Total production from OPEC's 11 members, including sanctions-bound Iraq which does not have a quota, stood at 25.25 million bpd in July, the report said.
North African producer Algeria continued to be OPEC's biggest quota buster in percentage terms, pumping 23 percent above its limit of 693,000 bpd.
Algiers has formally requested a higher quota in the group, having added significant new production capacity over the past three years.
OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, lifted flows by 188,000 bpd in the month to 7.62 million. That means the kingdom pumped 570,000 bpd, or eight percent, above its official ceiling, according to the OPEC report.
OPEC ministers are due to meet on September 19 to decide production policy from the fourth quarter onwards.
OPEC revised downwards almost by half its projection for world oil demand growth this year to 160,000 bpd, from 300,000 bpd in last month's report.
Total oil demand was estimated at 76.16 million bpd this year, rising by a downwardly-revised 790,000 bpd in 2003.
The report revised downwards next year's call on OPEC crude -- total demand minus non-OPEC supply, assuming no stock change -- to 24.55 million bpd. This year OPEC estimates the call for its crudes at 24.70 million bpd.
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