Concurrent with the global increase in price of oil, Iran's export of crude has increased by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Among members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which Iran is the rotating chairman, Iran has had the highest commitment to OPEC output level and other member-states have supplied more oil to the global markets, Mehr News Agency reported.
Official statistics show that Saudi Arabia has violated OPEC quota the most by increasing export by one million bpd. The UAE, Venezuela, Kuwait, Nigeria and Angola have supplied oil to the global market more than their OPEC commitment by increasing their daily export by 377,000 barrels, 514,000 barrels, 259,000 barrels, 349,000 barrels and 91,000 barrels, respectively. This is while given the civil war in Libya, export from this African country has decreased by over 1.3 million bpd.
Export to China
A recent report shows that China's crude oil imports from the Islamic Republic of Iran have increased by 32 percent during the first four months of 2011.
According to the latest report by China Customs Organization, Iran's total oil exports to China stood at 8.549 million tons between January and April 2011, up 32 percent compared with the same period last year, Fars News Agency reported.
The report added that Iran's crude oil exports to China reached 2.09 million tons in April.
Iran, along with Saudi Arabia and Angola, were the three main oil suppliers to China in the said period, according to the report.
Saudi Arabia exported more than 16.3 million tons of oil to China and Angola supplied the country with 10.7 million tons of crude.
US Reserves Down
Concurrent with the reduction in trade balance of India and China, as the fourth and second biggest oil consumers in the world, respectively, last week the US strategic oil reserves declined by about 4.8 million barrels.
In the week to June 3, US oil inventory and oil production reached 1.789 billion liters and its gasoline and crude reserves amounted to 214 million barrels and 369 million barrels, respectively.
Rise in Global Demand
In the first quarter of 2011 the global oil demand reduced to 88.4 million barrels and in the second quarter of 2011 it decreased to 88.2 million barrels.
It is projected that in the second half of this year, given the cold weather in the northern hemisphere, global crude demand would increase between 1.7 million bpd to two million bpd. This will lead to improvement in oil price in the final months of 2011.
Concurrent with the rise in demand, supply of oil by developed countries in the first half of 2011 declined, but it seems that in the second half of 2011 supply of oil by these countries will increase up to 19.4 million bpd.
In the first half of 2011, supply of oil by non-OPEC members was about 30 million bpd and the figure is expected to increase to 30.7 million bpd in the third and fourth quarter of 2011.
With the increase of exports of non-OPEC members, it is forecast that in the remainder of this year supply of oil by these countries will exceed 29.7 million bpd.
