OPEC Report:OPEC-10 Feb Output +1.52M B/D To 24.66M B/D

sg.biz.yahoo.com Thursday March 20, 2:29 AM

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Total output in February from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries including Iraq increased 1.5 million barrels a day from January to 27.10 million b/d, OPEC said in its monthly oil market report.

Output from the OPEC-10, which excludes Iraq - whose exports were controlled by the U.N. - was up in February from the previous month, by 1.52 million b/d to 24.662 million b/d, the report said.

At an emergency meeting in January, the group increased its output ceiling 1.5 million b/d to 24.5 million b/d to cover oil lost due to a general strike in Venezuela.

In February, the bulk of the production increase came from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia which produced 8.793 million b/d - a 362,000 b/d hike from the previous month.

Saudi output is believed to be even higher now.

The International Energy Agency estimated Saudi Arabia's output was at 9.2 million b/d in early March - in line with the Kingdom's repeated pledges to keep customers well-supplied in the event of any disruption to Iraqi oil exports during a war.

Venezuelan output was also up in February by 881,000 b/d to 1.475 million b/d, the report said.

Industry sources say that Venezuelan production is unlikely to go much higher than 2.5 million b/d due to damage to fields during the strike. Venezuela was producing around 3 million b/d before the industrial action.