The UAE increased oil production substantially last month as Opec maintained output levels amid a worldwide oil glut, according to the body's latest monthly report on the market.
Among individual Opec member countries, the UAE officially reported to the Opec secretariat in Vienna that it pumped an average of just more than 2.9 million barrels per day in December, an increase of about 153,000 bpd from the previous month.
The UAE Energy Ministry was unavailable to comment on the source of the extra barrels, and the secretariat research department said it received no explanation about the increase.
"We had never received any reason for the production revision” from the UAE, said Mohammad Ali Danesh, the oil supply analyst at Opec.
The report by the Opec secretariat is not as widely watched as that due out today from the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based consumer countries' think tank.
However, it is a chance to see what Opec members are officially reporting as their output levels and how those differ from the estimates of secondary sources, which are comprised of surveys by specialist news agencies.
Source: The Nation