OPEC Agrees to 30 Million Barrel Output Limit

OPEC decided to increase its production ceiling to 30 million barrels a day, the first change in three years, moving the group’s supply target nearer to current output. “We have an agreement to maintain the market in balance and we’re going to adjust the level of production of each country to open space for Libyan production,” Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting ended today in Vienna.

The group won’t set individual quotas for each member nation, a person with knowledge of OPEC policy said earlier today while the ministers were still in talks. The 30 million barrel a day limit is for all of OPEC’s 12 member nations, including Iraq and Libya, United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Mohamed al-Hamli said after the meeting ended.

OPEC is raising its quota to more closely match actual production while at the same time gauging the possibility of a slowing global economy and rising Libyan supply. Its last meeting in June broke up without consensus when six members including Iran and Venezuela opposed a formal push to pump more oil by Saudi Arabia and three.....Read the entire Bloomberg article.


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Crude Oil Climbs to 17 Month High on Speculation Demand Recovering

Crude oil rose to a 17 month high on speculation global demand will increase as the world economy recovers from recession. A report today in the U.S., the world’s largest oil user, will probably show service industries expanded for a third month in March, according to a survey of economists. Oil prices have established a floor of $75 a barrel, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said April 2. There is no need for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production, he said.

Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as 81 cents, or 1 percent, to $85.68 a barrel in after hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Oct. 9, 2008. It was at $85.62 at 8:10 a.m. in Tokyo. The contract rose $1.11, or 1.3 percent, to $84.87 on April 1. Prices climbed after reports showed Chinese, European and U.S. manufacturing expanded, while pessimism decreased among Japan’s largest industrial companies.

Oil trading resumed today after the exchange closed on April 2 to mark the Good Friday Easter holiday. A Labor Department report that day showed the U.S. economy gained 162,000 jobs in March, the most in three years, buoyed by 48,000 temporary workers hired by the government to conduct the census. Oil traded within a range of $68 to $84 a barrel in the six months ended March 30. Prices climbed the past two months as improved investor confidence lifted world equity markets and U.S. refining climbed from a 16 month low.....Read the entire article.

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Venezuela to Borrow to Pay Oil Debts

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez' announcement that the state will borrow more money to help pay off national oil company debts follows the disclosure by President Hugo Chavez of a letter urging Moscow to cooperate in selling oil at $100 a barrel.
State petroleum company Petroleos de Venezuela has run up billions of dollars in debts to contractors since global oil prices began tumbling nearly a year ago. Although denying that PDVSA had cash-flow problems.....Complete Story