Opec oil output slides in December

London

OPEC's (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) crude production fell by 310,000 barrels a day in December, as unplanned disruptions in Nigeria reduced the group's supply before deliberate cuts take effect this month.

Nigeria's daily output dropped by 200,000 barrels to 1.45 million in December, ending three months of gains as the African nation struggled to restore capacity after a year of militant attacks on oil infrastructure. Saudi Arabia's production fell by 50,000 barrels a day while Venezuela declined by 40,000.

"Crude production in Nigeria in December was once again severely impacted, mostly due to a field maintenance as well as a strike of port workers," said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at London-based consultant Energy Aspects Ltd.

The decline in December comes as Opec, which controls around 40 per cent of global supply, is planning to curb output in a bid to boost oil prices. The organisation reached a historic deal last month with Russia and other non-members to cut global production by almost 1.8 million barrels a day starting this month.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, advanced 52 per cent last year, the biggest annual gain since 2009.

Overall, Opec - excluding Indonesia which suspended its membership on Nov 30 - pumped 33.1 million barrels a day in December, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data. That compares with a November total of 33.41 million barrels a day for the 13 continuing members of the group, or 34.14 million including Indonesia's daily output of 730,000 barrels.

Under the terms of last month's agreement, Opec's total output including Indonesia would fall to 32.5 million barrels a day (bpd). Compliance with that target will be judged against independent estimates compiled by Opec, which can vary from the Bloomberg News survey.

In Nigeria - which along with Libya is exempt from making cuts because of conflict - maintenance on the Erha field and strike action by workers at Exxon Mobil Corp's operations in the country disrupted both exports and production, Mr Sen said.

Meanwhile, Iraq has begun implementing measures to reduce national oil output in keeping with an Opec decision, the oil minister said on Thursday. "Iraq affirms its commitment to the Opec decision which was taken in the last meeting in Vienna by putting in place a studied plan to reduce production from the country's fields from the start of the new year," Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said in a statement.

Reliant on oil sales for most of its income, Iraq had resisted production cuts, saying it needed revenue to fund a war against Islamic State militants who seized a third of the country's territory in 2014.

But it has accepted a lower production reference level as part of the Opec deal that estimated its output at 4.561 million bpd. Iraq is reviewing several options to implement the reduction, including cuts from Kirkuk oilfield, southern fields being developed by oil majors or other state-run areas, Mr Luaibi told Reuters last month. Mr Luaibi said that his ministry was in discussions with foreign companies operating Iraq's giant southern fields to implement some cuts during scheduled maintenance. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that the autonomous Kurdish region was exporting more than its allocated share of oil. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS