London (ots/PRNewswire)

Platts -- The 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 31.38 million barrels
per day (b/d) of crude oil in November, according to a Platts survey
of OPEC and oil industry officials just released. This is a decline
of 880,000 from the October level of 32.26 million b/d.

Excluding Indonesia, which will leave OPEC at the end of this
year, and Iraq, production from the 11 members bound by output
agreements fell by 950,000 b/d to 28.16 million b/d from 29.11
million b/d, the survey showed.

This leaves the OPEC-11 with an additional 852,000 b/d of supply
to remove if they are to reduce output to the level of the 27.308
million b/d output limit which came into effect at the beginning of
November after the group agreed to slash production by 1.5 million
b/d at emergency talks in Vienna on October 24.

"These cuts are nowhere near what analysts estimate is needed for
OPEC to slash simply to catch up with rapidly receding demand," said
Platts Global Director of Oil John Kingston. "Even if the full 1.5
million b/d cut was implemented, few now think even that would be
enough to stave off tremendous increases in inventories, which will
push prices down further. OPEC will have its work cut out for it at
its upcoming meeting, with two main agenda items: how do we get to
the cuts we agreed upon in October, and how much further do we cut
from there?"

OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia accounted for the biggest single
reduction, cutting its output to 8.9 million b/d from 9.4 million b/d
in October. This leaves the kingdom still pumping more than 400,000
b/d in excess of its new 8.477 million b/d quota.

Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reduced output by
100,000 b/d and 150,000 b/d respectively, UAE output had been
expected to decline as a result of field maintenance. Nigerian output
fell by 50,000 b/d to 1.9 million b/d after new attacks on oil
installations by rebels in the Niger Delta. Other smaller reductions
came from Iran, Libya, Qatar and Venezuela.

Output from Angola, Ecuador and Indonesia was unchanged from
October levels.

Iraqi volumes increased to 2.37 million b/d, reflecting largely
higher exports from the south as well as an increase in internal
consumption.

OPEC ministers are scheduled to meet on December 17 in Oran, in
western Algeria, where several ministers have said an additional
output cut will be on the table for serious consideration.

Oil prices have plunged by more than US$100 per barrel in just
five months, falling from record highs of more than US$147/b in early
July to under US$40 per barrel last week.

Although some forecasters, including the International Energy
Agency and OPEC, still see some growth in world oil demand next year,
others, such as the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London and
Wood Mackenzie in Edinburgh, see demand contracting in 2009.

* From November 1. Indonesia, which will leave OPEC at the end of
the year, is not part of the October 24 decision to reduce the target
by 1.5 million b/d to 27.308 million b/d. Previous totals have been
recalculated as OPEC-11 totals to exclude Indonesia.

For production numbers by country, a table is available at http:/
/www.platts.com/Oil/Resources/News%20Features/opec/prod_table.xml.

More information on OPEC is available via "Platts Guide to OPEC"
at http://www.opec.platts.com.

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