OPEC oil output rises in January despite lower prices

OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has kept its oil production at a high level in recent months despite a slump in world crude prices, Xinhua reported.

"The increase in crude output was largely contributed by Nigeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran," said the report. Tehran has said that it could significantly increase its oil production shortly after sanctions are lifted.

OPEC members have shown no sign of cutting oil production to balance the market. In the past few meetings of OPEC member states in Vienna, the cartel has refused to reduce crude oil production in order to maintain its market share, and the OPEC has kept its output at over 30 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Despite the low oil prices, other major oil producers, such as the United States (US) and Russia, have also kept their oil production high.

Non-OPEC producers are expected to pump more crude in 2015 than they did a year earlier. However, the cartel still predicts a decline in non-OPEC oil production in 2016.
(T.A026)

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono