OPEC oil production declines

OPEC 1995 Oil Production Oil production by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members averaged 25.14 million b/d in December, down 210,000 b/d from November. Estimates by Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) showed the fall was mainly due to a reduction of 245,000 b/d in Iran to 3.355 million b/d, significantly below its 3.6 million b/d quota. "It seems that the level of Iranian oil liftings in December was substantially lower than projected in the original nominations, but so far no

Jan. 29, 1996

OPEC 1995 Oil Production

Oil production by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members averaged 25.14 million b/d in December, down 210,000 b/d from November.

Estimates by Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) showed the fall was mainly due to a reduction of 245,000 b/d in Iran to 3.355 million b/d, significantly below its 3.6 million b/d quota.

"It seems that the level of Iranian oil liftings in December was substantially lower than projected in the original nominations, but so far no conclusive explanations have emerged," MEES said.

Nigeria boosted production even further above quota, after technical and political problems earlier in the year. Venezuela remained the biggest quota violator, producing an excess 441,000 b/d.

OPEC production for 1995 averaged 25.116 million b/d, a gain of 330,000 b/d from the 1994 average. This was due mainly to an increase of almost 200,000 b/d in Venezuela, MEES data show.