OPEC pumped less crude in February amid efforts by big oil producers to negotiate a deal that would limit oil output and raise prices, the group said on Monday, pointing to a slight drop in demand for its production this year, according to a latest report published in the Wall Street Journal.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ output fell by around 175,000 barrels a day last month to 32.28 million barrels on lower output from Iraq, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, the cartel said in its monthly market report.
Iran’s output, based on secondary sources such as shippers, analysts and industry executives, rose 187,800 barrels a day to 3.132 million barrels a day last month.
The Wall Street Journal report says that the oil prices hit their lowest levels since 2003, below $30 per barrel, in January on a supply glut stemming from booming U.S. output in recent years and a decision by OPEC to defend market share instead of cutting output to support prices.
Prices recovered to $40 a barrel after the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia—the world’s two largest crude-oil exporters—agreed with Qatar and Venezuela last month to freeze their production at the January levels if other producers follow suit.
Saudi Arabia told the cartel that its output fell to 10.220 million barrels a day last month from 10.230 million in January, but according to OPEC secondary sources the Gulf producer upped its output by 14,000 barrels a day to 10.143 million barrels.