OPEC crude oil supplies rose 500,000 per barrel in February

Global oil supplies rose by 600,000 barrels per day in February, bringing overall output to 92.81 million barrels per day (bpd), and OPEC producer group accounted for 500,000 bpd of that increase, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Friday. February production levels were over 2.0 million bpd higher than levels at this time in 2013. The increase did not greatly affect overall crude prices, which edged higher last month with WTI futures trading about USD 100/barrel for the first time in five months. Cold weather and refinery demand helped buoy prices in February but both blends eased in early March, when WTI was trading at USD 98.20/barrel, while Brent crude was trading at around USD 108/barrel. The IEA remarked that the non-OPEC producers had increased output by an average of 1.3 million bpd in 2013 and are expected to further increase production by 1.7 million bpd this year. This is "the highest rate of growth since at least the early 1990s, driven primarily by the US and Canada," the IEA report said. Output growth is also expected in Russia, China and Brazil this year. Last month, OPEC supply broke the 30 million bpd barrier for the first time in five months, reaching 30.49 million bpd, led by a surge in Iraqi output which is now at a 35-year high. Iraqi output was estimated to have firmed by 15 percent to reach 3.62 million bpd last month. Saudi Arabia also increased production and the "call on OPEC crude" for the second half of 2014 now stands at 30.2 million bpd, up 250,000 bpd on earlier benchmarks. Meanwhile, global oil demand for 2014 is forecast to rise by 1.4 million bpd to 92.7 million bpd in view of stronger economic fundamentals. Most of the increased demand is expected to come from the emerging markets, nonetheless. The industrialised nations' oil reserves fell against the usual trend in January and stock draw accounted for a fall of 13.2 million barrels that month. Total OECD inventories now stand at 2.55 billion barrels and the strong draw on stocks has led to a sell-off of the US Strategic Reserve, which will provide 5 million barrels of stocks to the market beginning in April due to very cold weather in the US.