Oman oil production hits 29.71mn barrels

Muscat: The Sultanate’s production of crude oil and condensate throughout September 2018 amounted to 29.71 million barrels, with a daily average of 990,200 barrels, the monthly report issued by the Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG) showed.
The total exported quantities of Oman crude oil during September 2018 reached 27.08 million barrels, with a daily average of 902,611 barrels, the report said.
The proportion of China's import of Omani crude oil soared by 10.08 per cent, compared to August 2018 and firmed at the 90.74 per cent level, and stayed at the top of the importing countries of Oman's exported volumes. In contrast, imports by Japan and India went down by 4.19 per cent and 2.12 per cent respectively.
The crude oil prices have witnessed a rise during September’s futures trading compared with August 2018 for the major crude oil benchmarks around the world. The average price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil at the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) reached US$69.91 per barrel, rising by $2.64 only in September compared with the previous month's trading.
The average price for the North Sea Brent mix at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London climbed to $79.11 per barrel, up by $5.27 compared with August 2018.
Likewise, the average price for Oman Crude Oil Future Contracts at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) witnessed a price hike by 8.4 only compared to the previous month. The official selling price (OSP) for Oman Crude Oil during September 2018, for the delivery month of November 2018, settled at $78.72, rising by $6.08 compared with August's trading prices. The trading price ranged between $75.26 per barrel and $88.96 per barrel.
The crude oil prices uptrend through September 2018 futures trading has been attributed to several factors that positively affected the trading settlements, such as the shift-down in US oil inventories and the increase in global demand for the medium and heavy crude grades.
The extra demand came especially from the Asian buyers as a result of the market anticipation of a new round of US sanctions against Iran, resulting in traders concerned about the lack of global supplies.
The oil market has been relieved after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' decision to maintain the same production levels and to eliminate any immediate increase to compensate for the drop in supplies from Iran; this has also boosted prices. In addition, the prices received some strong support by the publication of statistics, indicating an imminent approach to balance the global supply and demand, as well as the market uncertainty of excess quantities to be used as a reserve to cover supply shortfalls.