OPEC insists oil supplies enough to meet growing demand

                                                                                                           SALEM EL-BADRI – OPEC Secretary General

OPEC has that global oil production will be enough to meet growing demand in the second half of 2014. OPEC assured that non-OPEC oil production will help fill in any remaining gaps in demand later this year. The group’s monthly oil market update aimed to allay international concerns that OPEC’s member countries could face significant sup­ply disruptions in the com­ing months as strikes, sanc­tions and armed insurgencies among member countries increase.

OPEC, whose 12 members supply a third of the world’s oil, forecast that other sup­pliers would increase output by 1.2 million barrels a day in the next six months, which, together with OPEC out‑ put and healthy stock levels, would be enough to balance oil markets. Last month, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said that OPEC will need to boost its output by 800,000 barrels a day in the next six months to meet global demand.

Brent crude oil rose after an al-Qaeda splinter group reportedly took over the northern city of Kirkuk, home of some of Iraq’s main oil fields. Oil analysts said the Kirkuk takeover has no immediate implications for Iraq’s oil exports because the bulk of the country’s oil pro­duction and export facilities are largely in Shi’ite areas in the south, where al- Qaeda-­aligned groups have less of a stronghold.

Source by: Ghana/ Business Day