Abu Dhabi: The UAE's oil production rose 1.64 per cent in February compared with a month earlier, latest data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show.
"Output from the UAE averaged 2.48 million bpd [barrels per day] last month, up 40,000 bpd over a revised January estimate of 2.44 million bpd, and the highest level since reduced output targets were implemented over two years ago," said the IEA, which advises 28 industrialised countries on energy policy.
"Early indications are that the Emirates plans to boost output to 2.5 million bpd for both March and April," it added.
Officials in the UAE's Ministry of Energy were not immediately available for comment.
Cuts eased
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) this month eased cuts to contract allocations for heavier Zakum, Upper Zakum and Umm Shaif grades in the wake of the Libyan crisis but, unusually, officially left contract allocations for distillate-rich Murban crude unchanged," the IEA said.
"That said, refiners report state-owned Adnoc is offering more Murban on-the-spot market, with Indian refiners picking up some of the extra barrels," the Paris-based agency added.
The official selling price of Adnoc's crude oil grades averaged $102.71 a barrel, data from Adnoc extrapolated by Gulf News show. The data showed the government selling price for Murban crude in February was $103.60 a barrel, Lower Zakum $103.60 a barrel, Umm Shaif $103.15 a barrel and Upper Zakum $100.50 a barrel.
"The global oil prices are likely to gradually move higher because of the fundamentals of supply and demand which are supporting higher oil prices," Dalton Garis, Associate Professor of Economics and Petroleum Market Behaviour at Abu Dhabi's Petroleum Institute told Gulf News.
"By September, the price of Brent crude may rise to $125 a barrel and that of WTI to $112 a barrel. The market is adjusting to the price instead of reacting to it," Garis added.
According to global research and consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan, the civil unrest in Libya, Algeria, Bahrain, Yemen, Iran, and Jordan is likely to have a short-term impact on the crude oil availability since these countries control 10 per cent of the world production. "Crude oil production has already been affected in Libya with estimates indicating the production being reduced to almost 20-25 per cent of the 1.6 million barrels per day. The current price increase is more speculative with a premium attached to the risk environment given the political situation in the Mena region, and the increased crude oil demand in tandem with economic recovery of developed nations," the firm's Deputy Director for Energy and Power Systems Practice (South Asia and Middle East), Amol Kotwal said in a research note.
