OPECs Numbers Don't Add Up -- Who Wudda Thought?

This is a story that needs to be read by everyone interested in the oil and gas industry and OPEC figures. The headline story was OPEC decreased production this past month: that was the narrative. In fact, when one looks at the tables submitted by OPEC, production from Angola was conveniently removed. If Angola's historical production was included, then OPEC production actually rose.

The latest monthly oil market report, published earlier this week by the Vienna secretariat, estimates June crude output at 30.379 million b/d, which represents a drop of 309,000 b/d from 30.668 million b/d in May.

The direct submissions for June do not include a figure from Angola, but if Angola were to repeat the 1.73 million b/d figure it supplied for May, the June total would be around 32.12 million b/d – some 1.74 million b/d more than the secondary source total.