P.M. BRIEFING : Freeze Puts OPEC Over Oil Limit
OPEC is still pumping more oil than its own rules permit, but Western inventories are at their lowest for years and there is no sign of a glut on the market, the International Energy Agency said today.
The West’s energy watchdog said that after exceptionally cold weather in North America, which raised demand for heating oil, oil companies’ petroleum stocks in the Western industrial nations were down to only 64 days--the lowest since 1974.
The agency’s Monthly Oil Report estimated that crude oil output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ran at 23.3 million barrels a day in January.
That was somewhat down from December’s eight-year peak of 24 million. But OPEC ministers had said they hoped to get below 22.5 million under a new quota agreement, effective Jan. 1, designed to keep a floor of $18 per barrel under prices.
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