The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will boost shipments by 2.3 per cent through late July as driving demand peaks during the northern hemisphere summer, Bloomberg quoted Oil Movements.
The group that supplies about 40 per cent of the world’s oil will ship 24.18 million barrels a day in the four weeks to July 20, up from 23.64 million in the period to June 22, the news wire quoted the tanker tracker to have said in an e-mailed report. The figures, according to the report exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador.
“This is it, this is the mid-year peak”, the company’s founder, Roy Mason told Bloomberg at the weekend by phone from Halifax, England. “It’s the point in the year when refiners, both east and west of Suez, are looking for crude for the summer season, when refinery runs hit peak. So that drives demand up.”
Middle Eastern shipments will jump by 2.9 per cent to 17.83 million barrels a day, compared with 17.32 million in the month to June 22, according to Oil Movements. That figure includes non-OPEC nations Oman and Yemen.
Crude on board tankers will increase by 6.3 percent to 496.01 million barrels versus 466.5 million, data from Oil Movements show. The researcher calculates the volumes by tallying tanker bookings. Its figures exclude crude held on vessels for storage.
OPEC’s members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. The organisation will next meet in Vienna, Austria on December 4.
Meanwhile, Brent crude oil rose towards $107 a barrel on Friday after Egypt's army said it was on high alert after an attack in Sinai, pushing the price to its biggest weekly gain since last June.
The Egyptian army said it was on alert in the Sinai Peninsula after an attack on an airport in the town of El Arish but had not declared a state of emergency, Reuters reported. So far, ports and shipping through the Suez Canal have been operating normally, two shipping sources and a canal official said.
Brent crude for August delivery was up by $1.35 to $106.89 at 1300 GMT after hitting a high of $107.34 a barrel following the Egyptian army's announcement. Front-month prices have risen by 4.7 per cent so far this week, the largest weekly gain since June last year
US crude futures were up 93 cents to $102.07 a barrel after hitting a high of $102.19 a barrel. Crude was also set to maintain the gains after non-farm payroll data from the US exceeded expectations and offered a sign of strong improvement in the US jobs market.
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