Iran Produced 2.08mn bpd of Crude in Jan.: OPEC

Date: 14 February 2020 - 23:12

News ID: ۷۶۱۱۹

TEHRAN (Dispatches) –Iran has produced 2.086 million barrels of crude oil per day in the first month of 2020, according to the latest report by OPEC.
The figure shows a decrease of 9,000 barrels compared to December 2019.
The report added that OPEC members produced 28.859 million barrels of crude in January 2020, while the figure shows a fall of 509,000 barrels in comparison with the month before.
Earlier on February 8, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said the country could support deeper cuts in crude oil output of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) if a majority of the members agreed with it.
Zangeneh said if an early ministerial meeting was to be held, an agreement had to be made prior to the meeting rather than discussing an agreement during the meeting.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut its 2020 growth forecast, saying that global energy demand is going to fall to the lowest level since 2011, having been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak.
The aftermath of the epidemic is set to drive down oil demand by 435,000 barrels a day in the first three months of 2020, compared to the same period one year ago. This will mark the first quarterly contraction in more than a decade and will have an impact on annual results, the IEA said in its oil market report, released on Thursday.
The gloomy outlook comes as China, which accounted for more than three quarters of global oil demand growth last year, is struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak, known as Covid-19. On Thursday, the Chinese authorities announced that the virus has already killed more than 1,300 people, while the number of cases has reached nearly 60,000.
The epidemic could shake crude prices even more than threats to security of supply, such as tensions in Iraq and a fall in Libyan oil production, the IEA notes. Prices have been plummeting since the beginning of the year, with the Brent and WTI benchmarks trading at $55.15 per barrel and $50.77 per barrel, respectively.