Spare capacity remains high despite large supplies
Posted: 05 January 2005
OPEC still controls more than two million barrels per day (bpd) in spare oil production capacity although most member states are pumping at near full capacity.
According to independent international estimates, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries had around 2.29 million bpd in surplus capacity and the bulk of it is controlled by Saudi Arabia, the world’s oil superpower.
The second largest extra capacity is controlled by war-battered Iraq, whose crude exports have been smothered by the war and persistent guerrilla attacks.
Figures by the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES), which is owned by former Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Al Yamani, showed Saudi Arabia had a surplus capacity of 1.59 million bpd at the end of November while Iraq had around 700,000 bpd. The UAE was pumping at full capacity of around 2.5 million bpd while Kuwait’s output was also at its peak of nearly 2.4 million bpd.
At the end of November, OPEC’s total output capacity stood at 32.14 million bpd while its actual production was estimated at nearly 29.85 million bpd.
OPEC members, mainly the oil heavyweights in the Gulf, have been locked in multi-billion-dollar programmes to expand their oil capacity to meet a steady growth in global demand. Experts expect strong oil prices to give strong push to such programmes, which also include major gas development projects.
Posted by Editor Pipeline Magazine
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