OPEC pumped 29.17 mn barrels of oil per day in March

The 12-member Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) crude oil production plunged by 630,000 barrels per day (b/d) in March to an average 29.17 million b/d, a new survey has revealed.

According to the Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts, higher volumes from several member states failed to cover the loss of 930,000 b/d of Libyan supply.

Excluding Iraq, which does not participate in OPEC output agreements, production from the 11 members bound by notional quotas (Opec-11) fell by 580,000 b/d to 26.52 million b/d in March from 27.1 million b/d in February.

Libyan production, which had already fallen to 1.39 million b/d from 1.58 million b/d in February, was estimated to have averaged around 460,000 b/d over March.

"Even the simple counting of barrels shows how difficult it will be for the market to recover from the loss of so much Libyan crude," Platts global director of news John Kingston said in a statement.

"Beyond that, the quality of the crude coming out of Libya is one of the highest in the world, with very good yields on the transportation fuels, particularly diesel, which the world needs. So one barrel of crude from another OPEC country doesn't neatly replace one barrel of Libyan crude.

"The market will need to see a decline in demand to balance, and we are seeing signs of that reaction to higher prices," he said.

Saudi Arabia pumped an average nine million b/d, a 300,000 b/d boost from February levels. With the kingdom claiming capacity of 12.5 million b/d, this leaves Saudi Arabia with some 3.5 million b/d of spare capacity.

The UAE also increased production, by 100,000 b/d to an estimated 2.5 million b/d, while Kuwait boosted output by 70,000 b/d to 2.4 million b/d, the survey found.

Angola ramped up production to 1.7 million b/d from 1.65 million b/d in February.

However, production in Nigeria fell due to maintenance at the Bonga field, with the country's total volumes declining to 2 million b/d from 2.16 million b/d in February.

Venezuelan output fell by 20,000 b/d to 2.21 million b/d.

Likewise, Iraqi production fell by 50,000 b/d to 2.65 million b/d from 2.7 million b/d in February.

Iranian production was, however, steady.