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Big increase in OECD oil production
IEA report says North America made by far the biggest contribution to the rise while production from Norway and Mexico fell Alan Bailey Petroleum News
In its report, published on April 19, on key oil trends within the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2018, the International Energy Agency highlighted a 10.3% increase relative to 2017 in the annual production of oil, natural gas liquids and refinery feedstocks. OECD countries in the Americas led the way in this increase, in particular the United States, which posted an increase of 17.1%. Canada came second with an increase of 8.1%, thanks to robust crude oil production, the IEA report says.
Overall, during 2018 OECD countries in the Americas accounted for 85% of total OECD production, with 56% of the total being produced in the United States.
Production dropped somewhat in Mexico and Norway. Norwegian production was hit by field maintenance, and by the natural decline of mature fields, the report says.
In Europe the United Kingdom saw production growth of 10.1%, thanks to multiple new developments on the UK continental shelf coming on line in 2017. Production growth in Italy was 12.6%, because of the re-opening in 2017 of some oil facilities that had been closed because of leaks from storage tanks, the report says.
Downstream trends In the downstream oil industry, the output of refinery products across the whole of the OECD barely changed between 2017 and 2018, falling by just 0.3%. Growth of refinery output of 0.6% in the Americas was offset by a decline of 1.5% in Europe and of 0.4% in Asia and Oceania. Germany saw a fall of 4.4% following a September explosion in the Bayern oil refinery. And, with increased maintenance activity in the second quarter of 2018, France saw a decline of 5.9%. In Asia, Japan saw a fall of 4.9% in refinery output, because of a combination of scheduled maintenance and a refinery shutdown following an earthquake. On the other hand, output grew by 2.5% in Korea while, in Oceania, Australian refinery output increased by 12.5%.
Oil and refining product stocks Oil stocks, including refined products, of around 531 million metric tons stored within OECD countries in 2018 were, overall, broadly similar in amount to those stored in 2017. A 1% buildup of stocks in the Americas was counterbalanced by stock drawdowns in OECD countries in Europe, Asia and Oceania. The stock buildup in the Americas happened despite a major drawdown of stocks in the Cushing Oklahoma storage hub in the first quarter of 2018, the IEA report says.
Stocks in European OECD countries decreased by 2.2 million metric tons, mainly as a consequence of a drawdown of stocks of refined products. Germany saw the largest drawdown. Total stock drawdowns in Asia were largely a result of a large drawdown of stocks of crude oil, natural gas liquids and refinery feedstocks in Korea.
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