CALGARY – The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries is expecting production to grow more slowly than previously expected from countries outside the cartel, including Canada.
In its monthly oil market report, the group says non-OPEC supply is expected to grow by 850,000 barrels per day in 2015, but that’s 420,000 barrels per day lower than it forecast in its previous report.
In Canada, oil output is expected to average 4.35 million barrels a day, which is 20,000 barrels lower than OPEC’s earlier prediction as low oil prices cause operators to trim their budgets.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., where huge amounts of crude have been gushing out of shale deposits in Texas and North Dakota, about 130,000 barrels a day are being pared from OPEC’s forecast.
Crude for March delivery was up above US$53 a barrel on Monday —still less than half the US$107 a barrel the U.S. benchmark hit last June.
The drop intensified in late November, after OPEC decided to keep up its production rates rather than cut them as a means to put a floor under global oil prices.