OPEC Adjusts 2014 Oil Output to Meet Lower Demand

OPEC has trimmed its crude oil output towards next year’s global requirement, the exporter group said on Tuesday, further whittling away at a supply surplus that could weigh on prices.

The monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which kept its output policy unchanged at a meeting last week, also sounded an upbeat note on the prospects for the world economy in 2014.

“Signs of a recovery are already visible in rising global industrial production,” OPEC said. “The global economy has gained traction again.”

The report kept unchanged forecasts which point to a smaller share of the world oil market for OPEC in 2014 due to increasing supply from the United States, in the midst of a shale energy boom, and other non-OPEC countries.

OPEC expects demand for its oil in 2014 to average 29.57 million barrels per day (bpd), maintaining its previous estimate. According to secondary sources cited by the report, OPEC lowered its own output to 29.63 million bpd in November, closer to next year’s forecast demand.

That suggests there will be virtually no surplus crude in the market in 2014 should OPEC keep output at November’s rate. The amount of excess oil has fallen from earlier this year when OPEC output was well above 30 million bpd.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza