* Iraq provides OPEC’s largest supply boost
* Iranian output drops further ahead of EU oil ban
* OPEC output almost 2 million bpd above official target
(Adds details, link to table, quote in paragraph 4)
By Alex Lawler
LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) – OPEC output in April has hit
its highest since 2008 as extra crude from Iraq, Saudi Arabia
and Libya more than compensates for the lowest Iranian supply in
two decades ahead of an EU embargo, a Reuters survey found on
Monday.
Supply from the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries averaged 31.75 million barrels per day
(bpd), up from a revised 31.32 million bpd in March, the survey
of sources at oil companies, OPEC officials and analysts found.
As well as cushioning the impact of the looming European
Union plan to embargo Iran’s crude, the extra oil is filling
gaps caused by an unusually large amount of supply outages
globally, which have helped support oil prices this year.
“There’s plenty of oil in the market,” said Paul Tossetti,
an analyst at PFC Energy. “But there has been a lot of non-OPEC
outages, which have continued to tighten supplies.”
OPEC’s total is the highest since September 2008, which was
shortly before it agreed to a series of supply curbs to combat
recession and collapsing demand, based on Reuters surveys.
In April, the biggest increase in OPEC supply came from Iraq
as a second new Gulf shipping outlet provided a boost to export
capacity. Production topped 3 million bpd and rose by 230,000
bpd from last month.
Saudi Arabian supply edged up in April to 10.0 million bpd,
the survey found. Some customers say the kingdom, which has said
it wants to see lower oil prices, has been offering them extra
crude.
Output continued to recover in Libya after being virtually
shut down during the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s
rule. Supplies also rose from OPEC’s two West African members,
Angola and Nigeria.
In Iran, which faces the EU ban from July, output fell
significantly in April for a second month, according to oil
industry sources outside the country.
Supply declined to 3.15 million bpd in April, according to
the survey. That would be the lowest output in Iran since it
produced 3.088 million bpd in 1990, according to figures from
the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In March, Iran’s exports posted the first sizeable decline
since the EU announced in January its plan to embargo Iran’s
crude and Washington and Brussels sanctioned Iran’s central
bank.
(Reporting by Alex Lawler; Editing by William Hardy and Jane
Baird)
