40
39
th
Annual Report
On quarterly basis, the first quarter of 2012 has witnessed an
increase in global supplies by nearly 1.4 million b/d comparing with
last quarter of 2011 to reach about 90.0 million b/d. Then oil supplies
declined in the second quarter by 200 thousand b/d comparing with
first quarter. Same trend persisted in the third quarter of 2012 as oil
supplies decreased by almost the same amount registered during the
second quarter. Then oil supplies changed course in the fourth quarter
and went up by 700 thousand b/d comparing with third quarter to
reach 90.2 million b/d . It is worth mentioning that the main source
of increase in supply was from OPEC production of crude oil and
natural gas liquids.
1-1 OPEC Supplies
In 2012 OPEC countries’ oil supplies (Crude oil and Natural gas
liquids) hiked by around 1.8 million b/d, or about 5.1 %, to stand at
37 million b/d, representing a higher pace increase comparing with
the increase of 1.0 million b/d in 2011. The increase brought OPEC
countries’share of total world oil supplies to 41.1%, in 2012 compared
with 40.2% in the previous year, as shown in
Table (1-1).
OPEC supplies of natural gas liquids and unconventional oils
rose from 5.6 million b/d in the first quarter of 2012 to 5.9 million
b/d in the fourth quarter. On the other hand, OPEC supplies of
crude oil amounted to 31.2 million b/d in the first quarter of 2012
then went up in the second quarter, and changed course in third and
fourth quarter reaching 30.7 million b/d in the fourth quarter of the
same year.
OPEC countries redoubled its efforts in order to meet the global
oil demand by increasing the supply of oil despite the uncertainties
