[Oman-L] Oman targets 800,000 b/d output in 2009

[Joachim Duester]

Oman targets 800,000 b/d output in 2009   
Source: Reuters 13 January 2009

Non-OPEC producer Oman is targeting crude oil production of 800,000 barrels per day in 2009, up from current production of 750,000 barrels per day, the country’s oil minister said yesterday.

Another non-OPEC producer, Sudan, also said it was aiming to lift output to an average of 500,000 b/d in 2009, from 450,000 to 460,000 currently.

“This will go up to about 500,000 barrels per day on average for the year, but by the end of the year we will reach 600,000 barrels per day,” Sudanese energy and mines minister al-Zubeir Ahmed Al-Hassan said.

The planned increases in production come as OPEC producers have been cutting supplies in line with three agreements since September as the cartel attempts to put a floor under falling prices.

Oman’s oil minister Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy had said in November that Oman as a small producer does not feel obliged to cut supplies.

The country’s crude output has been sliding for most of this decade as oilfields have aged, and an output rise this year could mark a reversal of the past few years’ declining trend.

Rumhy said on the sidelines of the conference that he was comfortable with an oil price of $ 70 a barrel.

“I think that the figure that has already been mentioned is $ 70, this is good for us,” he said.

At 0726 GMT crude oil futures traded at $ 39.89 a barrel, down 94 cents from Friday’s settlement, and down more than $ 100 from last July’s record highs at $ 147.27, on persistent fears about falling oil demand.

Asked about current prices, Rumhy added: “We get less money of course, and long term it will affect production, making many projects not feasible under these prices.”