OPEC to Boost Exports

OPEC will increase shipments through the middle of February as winter demand in the northern hemisphere reaches its peak, according to tanker-tracker Oil Movements.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will ship 23.51 million barrels a day in the four weeks to Feb. 11, 1.3 percent more than the 23.2 million transported in the period to Jan. 14, the Halifax, England-based researcher said today in an e-mailed report. The figures exclude Angola and Ecuador.

“February is still the winter as far as the east is concerned, and as always practically all of the increase is eastbound,” said Roy Mason, Oil Movements’ founder. Refiners in Europe and the U.S. are importing crude in preparation for their return from seasonal maintenance in six to eight weeks, he said.

Exports from Middle Eastern producers, including non-OPEC members Oman and Yemen, will rise 1.4 percent to 17.65 million barrels a day in the four-week period, according to the report.

Crude on board tankers will average 471.65 million barrels in the four weeks, down 0.8 percent from 475.46 million in the month to Jan. 14, according to the report.

Oil Movements calculates shipments by tallying tanker- rental agreements. Its figures exclude crude held on board ships as floating storage.

OPEC’s members, which pump 40 percent of the world’s oil, are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

 Bloomberg