Oil prices rise, but so does OPEC production

pacific.bizjournals.com March 15, 2003  Howard Dicus   Pacific Business News

Oil prices are rising because of things that might happen, not because there isn't enough oil now. The Middle East Economy Survey reported Saturday that members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries produced 27.88 million barrels of oil per day last month.

The means OPEC output ballooned 8.6 percent despite the fact that one of its major members, Venezuela, still isn't back to 100 percent of its normal production as it recovers from a general strike in December. Venezuela did recover more of its production in February, however, while Saudi Arabia and Kuwait pumped a lot more.

Gulf states as a whole, not counting Iraq, boosted production last month by 10.1 percent. Iraqi production, which has been higher than usual in recent months, fell 0.95 million barrels per day in February because of an interruption in tanker truck shipments through Turkey. Saudi Arabia alone pumped enough extra oil to make up for 90 percent of the slippage in Iraqi production.

Gasoline prices are above $2 in most locales on Hawaii's neighbor islands, though self-serve regular remains at $1.90 or slightly below at many gas stations in Honolulu, where competition is greater.