Saudi Arabia remains key OPEC producer

摘要

OPEC crude production has been . climbing steadily alongside rising oil prices and the latest survey from Platts shows a 230,000 b/d jump to 29.8mn b/d in February - despite a 190,000 b/d average drop in Libyan production over the month. The past few months have seen increases here and there across the membership but, as the numbers show, it all comes down to Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world with any significant volume of surplus crude output capacity. Estimates of Saudi production in February vary. The Platts estimate is 8.7mn b/d, while the International Energy Agency (IEA) puts the figure at 8.9mn b/d. However, all the various estimates show that Saudi Arabia has been pumping up the volume.