UAE OIL PRODUCTION DROPS TEN PCT IN MARCH
Oil output in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) dropped ten pct in March from February to an average 1.05
mln barrels per day (bpd), mainly because of customer
resistance to fixed prices of Abu Dhabi oil, industry sources
said.
    The UAE quota assigned by the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) is 902,000 bpd. Traders could buy
Abu Dhabi's Umm Shaif crude on the spot market for 17.50 dlrs a
barrel yesterday, against the official OPEC price of 17.72
dlrs.
    The sources said output by Abu Dhabi, the largest UAE
producer, fell to around 700,000 bpd from a range of
800,000-820,000 bpd during the preceding four months.
    Dubai production slipped to an average 350,000 bpd from
around 370,000 in February after the emirate declared a
mid-February output cut to help boost world oil prices, the
sources added.
    Most of the Abu Dhabi drop came from the offshore Umm Shaif
and Upper and Lower Zakum fields as customers found fixed
prices too high and cut liftings, the sources said.
    The onshore Murban grade was less affected because Japanese
term buyers saw strategic benefit in maintaining liftings, they
added. The Japanese firms lift around 120,000 bpd, most of it
Murban.
    Abu Dhabi considers output from Upper Zakum, which came on
stream in 1983, to be test production not included in
calculations for complying with the OPEC quota.
    Without Upper Zakum, the UAE would be producing roughly its
quota in March, the sources added.
 REUTER
