Crude production up as economy stabilizes
May 4th, 2010 by Jim JustThe April 2010 edition of Oilwatch Monthly reports March 2010 conventional crude production was around 73.7 million b/d, and suggests there is a high chance that the standing record for monthly crude oil production – 74.73 million b/d, reached in July 2008 – may be broken within the next six months.
There’s also a chance that the yearly record for highest conventional crude production – 73.72 million b/d in 2005 – may be broken in 2010.
Conventional crude oil – the cheapest and easiest to process of liquid fuels – has been on a production plateau of between roughly 72 and 74 million barrels per day since late 2004. Production dropped to a low of 71.47 million b/d in May 2009 as demand fell several million barrels per day due to the economic crisis.
In March 2010 world production of all liquid fuels fell to 86.59 million b/d, down by 220,000 barrels per day from February, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Liquids production for February 2010 was revised upwards in the IEA Oil Market Report of April from 86.59 to 86.8 million b/d. Average global liquid fuels production in 2009 was 84.94 versus 86.6 and 85.32 million b/d in 2008 and 2007.
Governments have, for the moment, returned the global economy to a fragile growth track by bailing out the global financial system and assuming huge chunks of bank and corporate debt. But the debt problem hasn’t gone away – the IMF in its latest report warns of growing sovereign debt risk to the global financial system and of pressing need to continue repairing the financial sector in advanced and the hardest-hit emerging economies.