Production Outage In Nigeria, Others Plunges OPEC Crude Output In November

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reportedly pumped 28.40 million barrels per day last month, down 30,000 bpd from October’s total.

This is as Nigeria and Iraq recorded the largest declines.

A fire on the Yoho production platform and its resulting shutdown helped lower shipments.

OPEC’s oil output edged lower in November, despite an OPEC+ agreement to raise production for the month, due to outages in some members, a Reuters survey found on Thursday, bringing supply from the group further below its target.

The OPEC+, comprising OPEC and allies including Russia, has slowed the pace of its monthly output increases amid concerns of a supply glut. Many members are running close to capacity limits and some are tasked with extra cuts to compensate for earlier overproduction, limiting the impact of further increases.

Under an agreement by eight OPEC+ members covering November output, the five of them that are OPEC members – Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – were to raise output by 85,000 bpd before the effect of compensation cuts totalling 140,000 bpd for Iraq and the UAE.

The survey shows that the actual increase by the five was 40,000 bpd.

Iraq posted lower exports, according to data and sources in the survey, due to pipeline maintenance.

In Nigeria, a fire on the Yoho production platform and its resulting shutdown helped lower shipments.

Estimates of output in Iraq and the UAE vary widely, with many outside sources putting the countries’ output higher than the countries themselves.

While the Reuters survey and data provided by OPEC’s secondary sources show they are pumping close to the quotas, other estimates, such as those of the International Energy Agency, say they are pumping significantly higher volumes.

The Reuters survey aims to track supply to the market and is based on flow data from financial group LSEG, information from other companies that track flows, such as Kpler, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.