Iraq is second-leading contributor to global liquids supply growth in 2015 lweb.es/f854
OEF REVIEW:Iraq was the second-leading contributor to the growth in global oil supply in 2015, behind only the United States. Crude oil production in Iraq, including fields in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, averaged 4.0 million barrels per day in 2015, almost 700,000 barrels per day above the 2014 level. Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and accounted for about 75% of total OPEC production growth in 2015.
OEF REVIEW:The Nikkei spoke with Takashi Tsukioka, CEO at Idemitsu Kosan, a major Japanese oil refiner, about the future direction of crude prices, the outlook for shale oil players and industry realignments in Japan.
OEF REVIEW:With a rainy day “reserve fund” of only 4.5 percent of GDP and scant access to international financial markets, Russia urgently needs a fiscal Plan B. In January, the authorities announced additional cuts amounting to about 1 percent of GDP. More important, the government will try to raise another 1.5 percent of GDP — 1 trillion rubles ($13 billion) — by privatizing state-owned firms, including “crown jewels” such as Rosneft (Russia’s largest oil company), the diamond monopoly Alrosa and the flagship airline Aeroflot.
OEF REVIEW:The jump in imports, if realised, could see China overtaking the United States as the world’s largest crude importer after China’s average crude imports hit a record 6.71 million barrels per day in 2015, up 8.8 percent from a year ago. China is expected to import 860,000 barrels per day more crude this year, Yao Li, chief executive of SIA Energy said at a Platts conference.
OEF REVIEW:Although countries saying they’ll freeze oil production account for 25% of global supply, conditions of their Feb. 16 agreement and history offer little reason to expect much change in an oversupplied market. Of four countries agreeing not to raise production beyond January levels, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar, and Venezuela, only one has enough spare capacity to do so meaningfully. Saudi Arabia produced at an average rate of 10.19 million barrels a day in January, according to the International Energy Agency. 
OEF REVIEW:Ministers from Saudi Arabia and Russia met in Doha along with their counterparts from Venezuela and Qatar. Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi said: “Freezing now at the January level is adequate for the market. We don’t want significant gyrations in prices, we want to meet demand. We want a stable oil price.”
OEF REVIEW:The world’s two most powerful oil producers have reached a tentative agreement to freeze oil production at its current levels, dashing hopes of a supply cut for the world’s glutted market. Meeting in Doha, Russian, Venezuelan, Qatari and Saudi Arabian oil ministers reached a deal to not exceed production from their January levels, but only if it was followed suit by other producers such as Iran and Iraq. Forward prices for Bent crude plunged by as much as 3 percent on the news to $33.68 a barrel, reversing days of gains.
OEF REVIEW:Tight oil production in the United States increased from 2007 through April 2015, based on estimates in Energy Information Agency’s (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report, and accounted for more than half of total U.S. oil production in 2015. Tight oil growth has been driven by increasing initial production rates from tight wells in regions analyzed in the report. As drilling techniques and technology improve, producers are able to extract more oil during the initial months of production from new wells.