Thursday, 8 December 2011 at 17:04, Reuters, Doha
Recent oil output levels by Opec producers were seen as appropriate for the oil market throughout 2012. (REUTERS)
Developed nations might have made a mistake when releasing oil stocks six months ago and will be more cautious in the future to avoid straining relations with oil producers, the man who took the decision to release the stocks told Reuters.
Oil producing group Opec expressed anger at the West's energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, when the IEA released 60 million barrels of oil stocks in June, only the third time in its history, to fill the gap for oil lost during Libya's short civil war.
The new statement from the former head of the IEA, Nobuo Tanaka, comes one week ahead of an Opec meeting in Vienna and follows news Saudi Arabia was pumping oil at its highest in 30 years due to increased demand.
"We thought [the stock release] was necessary, but in hindsight it may not have been necessary because of the financial crisis with Europe," said Tanaka, who now works for the Institute of Energy Economics in Japan.
"[The IEA shall be] very cautions about a release this time, we don't want to offend any serious producers, who are supposed to produce more and who are committed," said Tanaka.
He added that prior to the release of oil stocks in June, the IEA and a number of its 28 members were in contact with Opec producers. "We consulted with some of the Opec countries, they didn't say "no" at the time."
The June release followed the failure of leading Opec member Saudi Arabia to convince the group to increase supplies.
Recent oil output levels by Opec producers were seen as appropriate for the oil market throughout 2012, the IEA's current director Maria van der Hoeven said on Wednesday.
"All the data shows that the call on Opec is almost at the current level of production which is about 30 million barrels per day," said Tanaka.
Opec's leading price hawk Iran, appears to have given up its campaign to have Gulf Arab nations including top producer Saudi Arabia cut back supply, and the cartel might be heading towards an agreement that legitimises current output at 30 million bpd.
"So if they continue at current production rates the market would be very well supplied, but if they go the other way round then the situation could be serious again just like this year."
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