Oman's oil output touches 30mn barrels

Muscat: Oman’s production of crude oil and condensate throughout August 2018 amounted to 30.21 million barrels, with a daily average of 974,500 barrels, according to the monthly report issued by the Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG).
The total exported quantities of Oman crude oil in August 2018 reached 25.21 million barrels, with a daily average of 813,164 barrels.
For the second successive month, the proportion of China's imports of Omani crude oil was cut off by 2.85 per cent, compared with last month (July 2018) and firmed at the 80.66 per cent level, but remained at the top of the importing countries of Oman exported volumes. In contrast, imports by Japan continued on the up track by 3.39 per cent on a month-on-month basis, whilst the rate of imports by Myanmar decreased by 0.36 per cent. August's exports witnessed a decent demand from the Indian-Subcontinent buyers.
The crude oil prices witnessed a fallback during the August 2018 futures trading compared with July 2018 for the major crude oil benchmarks around the world. The average price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) reached US$67.27 per barrel, down by $2.23 compared with the previous month's trading. The average price for North Sea Brent mix at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London amounted to $73.84 barrel, down by $1.11 compared with July 2018.
With the same trend, the average price for Oman Crude Oil Future Contracts at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) witnessed a price drop by 0.7 per cent compared with the previous month. The official selling price for Oman Crude Oil during August 2018, for the delivery month of October 2018, settled at $72.64, lower by 0.53 cents only compared with July's trading prices. The trading price ranged between $70 per barrel and $76.29 per barrel.
The crude oil prices’ downward trend through August 2018 was attributed to several factors that negatively affected trading settlements. The shift-up in US oil inventories, and the escalating trade dispute between the United States of America and China squeezed the oil markets. These trade tensions threatened the volume of China's imports of US crude oil, therefore slowing Chinese demand. The negative trend in oil prices was also harmed by the rise of the dollar exchange rate, which lead to the weakening of other commodities priced in the US currency, such as crude oil.