OPEC oil output edges higher in May

June 1st, 2007
(Reuters)

OPEC boosted crude oil output in May as higher supply from members including Algeria and the United Arab Emirates countered a drop in Nigeria, a Reuters survey showed on Friday.

Ten OPEC members bound by output targets, all except Iraq and Angola, pumped 26.76 mbpd, up 110,000 bpd from April, according to the survey of oil companies, traders, OPEC officials and analysts.

The survey suggests OPEC's adherence to agreed supply curbs eased in May as global oil prices rallied. Brent crude is trading at around $68 a barrel, close to a high for 2007 near $72 reached last week.

"OPEC is shipping more barrels out and prices are holding up fine," said Paul Tossetti, director of market analysis at Washington-based PFC Energy.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, source of more than a third of the world's oil, agreed last year to lower production by 1.2 million bpd from November 1 and by a further 500,000 bpd from February 1 to prop up prices.

May supply from the 10 countries was 880,000 bpd less than in October, according to Reuters estimates, or about 52 percent of the total production cut pledged.