News In Brief

Weak spot market in oil drives down OPEC output

Weakness on the spot oil market has pushed down output by OPEC members by as much as 1 million barrels a day (b.p.d.), the Middle East Economic Survey said Monday.

The Nicosia-based oil and finance newsletter said total OPEC output may have dropped to 18 million b.p.d. or less, from 18.5 to 19 million b.p.d. in October. It said the decline was due to saturation of the crude oil market in November, rather than any deliberate cutbacks by the OPEC members, who set an overall production ceiling for the 13-strong group of 17.5 million b.p.d. in March.