UAE crude output hit 2.58m bpd in December

The UAE's average oil output rose 2.38 per cent in December to 2.58 million barrels per day (bpd) from a month earlier, latest data from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) showed. "Opec [Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries] crude oil supply rose by 240,000 bpd to an average of 30.89 million bpd in December. The rapid recovery in supplies from Libya, and to a lesser extent increases from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, combined to push year-end output to the highest level in more than three years," the IEA said. "Production in the UAE rose by 60,000 bpd to 2.58 million bpd, last month." The country's oil output stood at 2.52 million bpd in November last year, according to IEA figures. Article continues below The IEA said the higher output levels are behind a decline in Opec's "effective" spare capacity, to 2.85 million bpd from 3.18 million bpd in November. "Saudi Arabia accounts for 75 per cent of effective spare capacity at 2.15 million bpd," the IEA added. Officials at the UAE Ministry of Energy weren't immediately available to comment on IEA's figures.