Global Oil Supply & Demand

According to Oil Market Intelligence, global supply rose to a record high of 88.6mbd during February. OPEC’s output rose to a new record high of 37.2mbd. Non-OPEC oil production edged up to 51.4mbd, just shy of its record 52.1mbd during September 2010. While Iran’s output has dropped 0.3mbd over the past three months, Libya’s production has rebounded impressively from zero during last summer to 1.3mbd during February.

Among the non-OPEC producers, the ones in North America produced 9.0mbd during February, the highest in the history of the series going back to 1993. In Canada oil output is at a record 3.2mbd, and in the US it’s back at 5.8mbd, the highest since early 2002. The oil rig count in the US is soaring. It is up 57% over the past year to 1,317 during the week of March 16.

Meanwhile, global oil demand flattened during February at 89.1mbd. While oil demand rose to a record high for non-OECD countries, it has been trending downwards since last February among the OECD countries. In Western Europe, it dropped to the lowest since the summer of 1994. (More for subscribers.)